


Breaking Through the World

by kaeda



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Timeline, Historical, M/M, Post-Movie, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2006-08-18
Updated: 2009-12-22
Packaged: 2017-10-04 23:47:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 35,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/35397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaeda/pseuds/kaeda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After performing human transmutation to bring Ed and Al back to Amestris, Roy Mustang finds himself thrown into the entirely new world of post-WWI Germany - where friends and foes both wear familiar faces, and the gate has a plan of its own. Post-movie, spoilers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> a) this is a **post-movie fic**. Thus, it will contain all manners of spoilers for Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conquerer of Shamballa. Be forewarned!
> 
> b) I put an extensive amount of research into the time period into this fic, but much of what I couldn't actually find clear information about, I guessed at from my knowledge of the political climate at the time. This isn't so important for chapter 1 but in later chapters comes into play.
> 
> c) this is primarily a plot-driven fic with a smaller emphasis on the pairing. While, yes, I did want to attempt post-movie Roy/Ed because I've only seen it done once before, I also wanted to write a well plotted, history-driven fic that told a story. So, I did both. If you're not looking for plot, do not enter!

He'd been searching for months on end, gathering materials, digging through alchemy text after alchemy text for just one clue, one secret, one way to get through the damned gate that had swallowed Alphonse and Edward two years before. He bought ancient books with the words almost rubbed off the pages, handwritten generations before he'd even been born, and slowly pieced together a formula that would allow him to breach universes.

But he was going to bring the brothers back, both of them, safe and sound.

Before he'd closed the gate on the Amestris side, he'd studied it briefly, as long as he'd dared. The mechanics of it were interesting; it had required being activated on both ends by _something_, some tie that would connect both worlds. Al had explained lowly to him as he'd asked him to close the gate that the homunculi Wrath and Gluttony had been the key. There were no homunculi left in the world, and he wasn't about to create another one just to get to another world, but it had given him a place to start.

It was always about balance and equivalent trade. There was no other way. It was the most dangerous form of alchemy, and eventually Roy had concluded something he'd been trying to avoid – that to open the gate from only one side, one needed to perform human transmutation.

Roy had nothing to transmute except himself.

Eventually he'd concluded that the Elric brothers, no matter how much he'd cared for them, would be happy on either side of the gate so long as they were together, and that his self-sacrifice wouldn't be required. So one bright winter morning, he shoved all his research into a closet in the spare room and vowed he would forget.

\--------------------

"You look pale." Riza, always by his side, even after their failed farce of a relationship, was the first to notice.

"I'm fine," he grumbled, shoving aside the plate she'd set in front of him. Promoted to major after his "heroics" at the battle with the forces from the other world, it still brought a smirk to his face that Colonel Hawkeye had been assigned as his commanding officer. Parliament had been too wary of his ambition to promote him higher than major, and he would probably never receive a promotion after this, but at least he had a decent pension again and could afford the modest apartment that had housed most of his research.

"You're obsessing," she said flatly.

"I stopped researching the gate three months ago," he pulled out his familiar smirk, but it no longer fooled Riza Hawkeye, who just snorted.

"Roy…" She seldom used his first name at work, but her eyes were dark and serious, and she was obviously concerned. "The Elrics meant very much to you. The rest of us wish they could return as well, but you…"

"He grew up," Roy said quietly. She blinked in surprise at him; he very rarely spoke of his brief encounter with Edward. "He was dressed strangely, and his hair was longer, and he was a _man_. A boy no longer." He sighed noisily, glanced around the crowded cafeteria to ensure that no one was listening to him, then continued. "That one glance was cruel. I should have been there to see him grow up."

Hawkeye's breath caught in her throat. She'd never delved too deeply into why her relationship with Roy hadn't worked out; the rumors around the office when Edward had been fifteen had been inappropriate and malicious, and even though his loyal band of followers had defended their leader, there had always been a niggling of doubt in all of their minds. Mustang wouldn't take advantage of a fifteen year old…

Take advantage of, no.

Get ridiculously, hopelessly attached to? That was a possibility she hadn't wanted to consider, especially when her dream relationship had started falling in pieces around her ears. Roy Mustang couldn't love her because he was in love with a fifteen year old boy? What sick deity had she annoyed to deserve such a fate?

Three years later, the idea stung less, but the glazed look in Roy's good eye made her throat seem a little bit smaller than normal. Even after they'd broken it off, she'd entertained hope…until Edward had magically reappeared. Then Roy's obsessive tendencies had taken over.

"You should go home and rest," she said kindly, resisting the habit of tacking on a 'sir'. She still did it, occasionally, and Havoc never let her hear the end of it.

"I can never sleep anymore," Roy said so quietly she had to strain to hear, before shoving back his chair and standing up. "But if you insist I should go home…" The essential personality of the man hadn't changed a bit – he was still the worst procrastinator she'd ever met, and she knew he wasn't going to get around to researching the three folders she'd given him until he'd managed to do everything else he could possibly think of.

So she let him go home, and hoped some rest and sleep would get Edward Elric out of his mind. Because really, what else was there to do?

\--------------------

When he returned to his apartment, he felt the pull as he always did, from the closet in the spare room. He tried to ignore it, tried to shove aside the images of eighteen year old Edward Elric in a _suit_ (no more ridiculous red coat and black leather, that was all Al now) and get some sleep.

But he always dreamed of gold, and when he woke up, it was like his head was buzzing with desperation. The closet was bright in his mind; he was like an addict trying to avoid his favorite drug when he knew exactly where he could procure some. It was like this every day and every night, and soon he was going to snap and do something stupid, like finally using the human transmutation circle he'd secretly drawn the day he pulled up the carpet in the spare room. The carpet was back down, now, but the thick black paint he'd used would hardly have rubbed away, and it was still there, still ready for the moment when he weakened.

He was not going to weaken. He still had only the vaguest ideas on how to get through the gate when there was only one side activated. He figured he'd do a lot of playing by ear, once he got there. He had a vague thought of negotiating with this gate, hoping it would spit Edward and Alfonse back out if he sacrificed something vital.

But he didn't want to _sacrifice_ himself to get Ed back. That would completely ruin the purpose of this whole experiment in the first place – he didn't want Ed back in Amestris for any other reason than he wanted to see him again. If he died during the process…there was really no point. Edward was most likely happy in this other world, as long as his brother was there…

Roy Mustang had become completely selfish, and it twisted his stomach into knots.

Tonight was not going to be the night that he pulled up the carpet, pulled out his old books, and transmuted himself into a pretzel just to access the gate. Instead, he poured himself a glass of whiskey, grabbed a book off the shelf, and tried to forget.

\--------------------

A week later, he snapped his fingers and burned the carpet in the guest room to shreds. His precision was back – he'd barely singed the floor, revealing the elegant transmutation circle buried underneath. He'd disassembled all the furniture before this endeavor and pulled it into the living room. He hoped it wouldn't be Hawkeye who found him if it failed; the woman had gone through enough without having to deal with more of his obsession with the Elric brothers. The books he'd shoved into the dusty box in the closet were spread across the floor now, theories penciled in the margins in an uneasy script, but most of what he'd discovered wasn't relevant. Nobody had truly done what he was about to do before and lived to write about it.

On a whim, he reconstructed the spare bed in his living room, just in case he succeeded and suddenly had two extra people to house in his apartment.

He was going to get Edward and Alfonse back, and nothing else mattered.

A thought hit him as he was setting up, pulling the books away, and he grabbed a pen and drew an array on each part of his body. Binding arrays, to keep him together in a non-corporeal existence, should it come down to it. Inside each binding array he drew another, more fine, which would lend its power to the initial transmutation array that lay beneath his feet. He had to do his forehead in the mirror, and the concentration that drawing ten complicated arrays on such an unstable material as skin had required had been nothing short of astounding, but after he'd inked them he hadn't dared sleep for fear they'd rub off.

He drank a cup of coffee ("perhaps my last," he'd laughed to himself nervously) then proceeded into the guest room. There was really nothing more. He stripped down to his pants and stood in the center of the circle, ironically wondering if he would create a homunculus of himself if he failed. There was no time for that now; he had a gate to open, and two lost boys to bring home.

Just before he pulled the power to the array on the floor, he had a strange, echoed image of a fifteen year old Edward Elric, standing in the middle of the same array, painted with similar arrays on his own body. He started; if he'd seen true, perhaps he was indeed on the right path. No one knew what the alchemy that Edward had performed to restore Al had required. No one had been there to see it.

He took a deep breath. "I'm not afraid to die," he said to the empty, cold air, as if it suddenly made everything okay. "I know that the gate is symbolic of knowledge; if I die, I'll receive the ultimate knowledge. That's nothing to fear." But he was scared nonetheless.

Was Edward worth all of this?

What did he have to lose? A lifetime of never achieving his dreams while always having nightmares, a stagnant career in the military, a lonely, empty apartment, and the memory of a pair of golden eyes. It was certainly worth the risk.

He took another deep breath, then kneeled and touched his hands to the circle.

\--------------------

At first he wasn't aware of anything, just blackness, as if he'd fallen into the night sky but all the stars had been extinguished. He'd expected pain, a flash of light, _something_ to indicate that he'd just done something totally insane. Not this…stillness.

Was this death?

Then, far in front of him, he could see the outline of a huge pair of doors. The alchemic signature of the doors echoed across the blackness, pulled him in like a magnet, and although his head was swimming much like one of his worst drunken nights, in a moment of clarity he knew that it had to be the gate.

Did the gate have a keeper? This had been one of his questions, and it was about to be answered. Would the gatekeeper answer his demands, pull Edward and Alfonse out of their lives in the other world just because a despairing, selfish man asked? How much would he have to sacrifice?

The doors were getting bigger, but the drunken sensation in his head stayed the same. Of all the times to not be able to think clearly… On a whim, he looked down at his body and started in surprise to see that he didn't have a true body at all in this place. It was indeed a non-corporeal realm, just as he'd suspected. His alchemist's mind, stumbling over the slowness, still tried to rationalize the balance of power needed to reach such a state.

It was indeed very possible that he was dead.

Suddenly the gate loomed in front of him, foreboding and _angry_. It was half open and hundreds of hungry eyes stared out at him, _wanting_ every part of him for themselves. The souls of the dead? Or something else? He could feel, on a primal level, that if he went through the gate in his present state, those eyes would rip him apart, steal every part of him until just his soul remained, forever to be one of them.

_'No!'_ he thought angrily towards the gate. _'Not until I find Edward!'_

The gate smirked, which annoyed him, because somewhere in his rational mind _some part of him_ was telling him that gates did not smirk. This one didn't even have a mouth, but somehow it looked _smug_. For the first time in his life, Roy Mustang vaguely understood how frustrated Edward Elric had been with his smug smirking all those years before.

Something was niggling in the back of his disoriented mind, something important. Something to help him get through the mass of hungry things that waited in that blackness. But what was it?

_'Oh,'_ he thought, and activated the binding array on his 'forehead' with a touch.

Energy shot through his 'body' like a torch, as though the energy from his real body left in Amestris was powering this spirit state, protecting it. With the arrays activated, he felt each limb, each part of his body once more, even though looking down he still saw nothing. For now, he was whole! He rejoiced in the thought, and then he was out of time because the gate was _there_ and damn, but the thing was still smirking.

He realized abruptly that he wasn't going to stop at the doors; he was hurtling through them, and there was no more time…

"I don't want to cross!" he shouted desperately, hearing his voice echo. "I want to make a trade! I want Edward and Alphonse Elric returned to their rightful side of the gate!"

If the gate heard, it didn't say anything, because suddenly he was rushing through _slime_, black slime that grabbed at him and tried to eat at his soul. It was like an acid, he thought sluggishly, but the binding arrays seemed to be keeping it at bay, and the eyes in the darkness had a distinct look of frustration in their depths.

He hadn't meant to cross the gate. He'd never had any thoughts of ending up in the other universe; it was either Ed and Al in Amestris or his death that he'd planned for. But _this_. This was not a contingency he'd planned for…

That was his last thought before blackness overtook him.

\--------------------

He woke to a language that sounded vaguely like his own, but with enough differences to make the person speaking very hard to understand.

"I don't…," and he missed a few words, "…fell onto the street from the sky…"

It all came flooding back to him in a flash and he shot up quickly, only to be shoved back down.

"Project…few years back…" the voice continued in the background, but a strangely familiar sharp, female voice drowned it out.

"Lie back down!" the woman snapped in the strange, broken language. He opened his good eye to see Riza Hawkeye staring down at him sternly. His head _hurt_, like a hangover, and he moaned angrily.

"I failed!" he told her. She gave him a strange look before turning to the other person in the room. She spoke too quickly for him to catch anything other than the word 'Hohenheim', but it was enough for him to sit up excitedly again. "What about Hohenheim?"

"Lie down!" she snapped again, shoving him firmly but gently back to the pillow. "I will not have…" and he missed a few words here, "damaged by impatience!" He blinked and shook his head to clear it. Why was Riza talking in such a strange way? Had the gate rearranged his brain so that ordinary language was different?

"Riza. Did I fail? Are Edward and Alphonse back?" He had to know. If they were sleeping in the guest bed in his apartment, having his brain rearranged by a mammoth pair of doors would be completely worth it. But when Hawkeye gave him only a confused look before shrugging his talking off as delirium, it suddenly hit him.

Why was she in a _nurse's uniform_?

No, it couldn't be.

"You need to rest," she said, speaking slowly. "I don't really understand what you're saying. Your dialect is most unusual." How he caught the word dialect, he really didn't know, but it was the proper word for the differences in language.

"You're not Riza," he stated. She smiled indulgently, still thinking he was delirious.

"My name is Liza Fischer. Do you remember anything…," and now he lost the language again. Damn, concentrating was hard. "…fell in the street. From the sky."

"I'm a friend of Hohenheim," he told her, since she'd said the name before. She smiled sadly at him and looked over at her companion, the deep-voiced man standing by the door. For a moment Roy expected to see Havoc standing there with her – but no, the man was someone he'd never seen before, a tall blond.

"Franz here studied with the Professor for a bit," she told him, "and that's why I called him. But I regret to inform you that Professor Hohenheim…died. Two years ago." She looked upset to tell him, and the man by the door – Franz? – moved inside.

"The Professor talked a little of his home to his favorite students," Franz said, speaking slowly and enunciating clearly. "When they said you'd fallen out of the sky, Liza called me because she remembered my stories. Is it true, then? Are you from…" and he struggled to find the name in his memory. "Armistice?

"Amestris," Roy corrected him absently, then winced. He wasn't normally sloppy and he hadn't intended to tell either of them anything, but his brain still felt like it'd been pulled inside out by the stupid gate and he was stuck in a world he knew nothing about. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. "Hohenheim had a son."

"Edward," Liza said sharply, almost protectively.

"He worked with me at the university sometimes," Franz added. "But after Hohenheim's death…nobody knows where he went." Of course. It figured. If Roy knew Edward (and he liked to think he did), the first thing the boy would have done after getting his brother back would have been to explore the world.

Fuck, Edward Elric could be _anywhere_.

It occurred to him, dully in the pit of his stomach, that he probably would never see Amestris again in his lifetime. If a world renowned alchemist like Edward Elric couldn't figure out how to return from this world, it was unlikely the help of Roy Mustang would be able to assist him in any way. It also occurred to Roy that if he did return, he'd never have to wear his gloves again. He'd be able to transmute with a clap, just like Edward, and Alphonse after him. The knowledge from the gate was still chasing itself around his brain, and he swore he could feel every time it challenged a preset notion of his and ran rampant over it.

Was he even the same person anymore?

And then it hit him, hard. He could see Liza out of _both eyes_. His hand flew to his familiar eye patch, but it was gone, and so was the scarring that made the eye completely useless. It felt good as new. But _why…?_

"He kind of looks like Müller," Franz was saying to Liza, pulling Roy back to the present. She frowned and studied his face.

"Kind of? Spitting image," she replied. "Maybe he's not a visitor from another world. Maybe he fell drunkenly out a window and landed in the street, and now he can't even remember his own name." She blinked suddenly. "What's your name?" she asked him slowly.

Well, at least he could answer this. "Roy Mustang."

"Not Müller."

"Unless Müller really bashed his head in," Liza murmured, suddenly placing her (familiar and yet not) hand on his forehead. "No fever. He seems in decent shape. It was smart of them to bring him to me…" and she said more, but faster now, and he had no hope of keeping up.

"Sounds almost English, his name," Franz mused. "Not a proper German name at all."

"You don't really believe all that nonsense," she said in such a Hawkeye way that Roy suddenly wanted to hug her. Alone in this strange world, it was nice to see a familiar face. "We can discuss this business later," she added. "My patient needs rest."

Well, if he was going to find Edward Elric, he'd best start trying now. "Wait." She had been about to leave with Franz, but both turned and looked at him. "Please. Get a message to Edward Elric. He'll know what to do." They exchanged skeptical glances, then Liza put on her bullshit face, the one he only knew because he'd dated her counterpart so long ago, and so far away.

"We will. You sleep."

And then he slept, and for the first time, he didn't dream of golden eyes at all, but of thousands of tiny black hands reaching up and stealing parts of his soul, scattering it across the universe like a thousand tiny stars.


	2. Chapter 2

Roy awoke sometime later in the evening; the shades had been drawn in his room and several electric lamps had been lit since he'd last looked around.

"You're awake." He squinted in the dim light and could barely make out a silhouette in the corner, slumped in a chair. "I'll get Liza." The man stood, and Roy resisted the urge to react to Fury's round, innocent face, looking not as round and innocent as usual. Before he could say anything, the small man was out the door, leaving Roy alone in the strange room.

So this was the world Edward had found himself in, four years before. Roy wondered if the Fullmetal Alchemist had been nearly as disoriented as he himself had been. It had sounded like Ed and Hohenheim had grown close over the two years they spent together, so he assumed his father had been there for Edward during the transition.

He also wondered why neither Liza nor Franz had seemed to know anything about Alphonse. He was scared to ask, scared that the younger brother hadn't made it back to the other world and that Edward had been _alone_ since he'd come back, in a world where he didn't belong. The thought made Roy want to find him even more.

Liza walked in and checked his temperature. "Your fever's gone," she told him smartly. "You'll be up and about within a few days."

"Did you find Edward Elric?" he asked hopefully, desperately, regretting the words the instant they left his mouth. Damn, he was trying to play his cards close to the vest like he'd always done. Why wouldn't his mouth cooperate? She smiled prettily and he was struck by how similar yet different the Rizas of the two worlds were. Liza seemed to indulge more in the feminine; no longer in the uniform of a nurse, she wore a simple but flattering dress in a rich magenta.

"It's only been seven hours since you asked us to look for him," she laughed. "It'll take more time than that. He could be…" he missed some words, "…and he moved around a lot even before his father's death, so it's unlikely we'll locate him anytime soon."

"He could be what?" he asked quickly, suddenly nervous.

"Anywhere," she said, more slowly this time. "Last I heard, but this was before that giant cover-up down over at the base, he was researching rockets with the youngest Heiderich son, Alfons."

_Al._

_Before the giant cover-up._ And Roy had a feeling that cover-up was related to the events that had brought Ed back to him in the first place. "Could you ask…Alfons…if he's seen him?" he asked hesitantly.

"Alfons Heiderich is also dead," she told him sadly. "Rumor has it he died around the same the Professor did." She clearly didn't know more and it frustrated her, and Roy turned this piece of information over in his mind; Alfons Heiderich must have been Al's alter self. Roy vaguely wondered if he and Edward had been close, if the death of a man who looked so much like his brother had unhinged Edward the way he imagined it would unhinge himself.

Roy was damn lucky that he'd been picked up by people who had known Hohenheim, knew about the other world and the possibilities that it presented. These people knew of Edward. They'd studied with Hohenheim, knew of Alfons Heiderich. Finding Ed was already going to be like finding a needle in a haystack; without Liza and Franz, it would have been even worse.

"What is this place called?" he asked, changing the subject so he wouldn't have to see her sad eyes anymore.

"You're in the city of Munich, in the country of Germany. It's the year 1925." He blinked. He'd traveled in time, too? When he'd left Amestris, it had been 1919. Unless the years didn't correlate.

Oh, his head hurt.

The knowledge he'd gleaned from the Gate wormed itself into his conscious mind and informed him, sourly, that the dates between Amestris and this new world indeed did not correlate, and that Amestris was six years behind due to some badly kept dates back in the Middle Ages. The Gate proceeded to rummage for a bit in his thoughts before slinking back into his subconscious again. It reminded him of a tiger, and he didn't like that it was still in his head.

"What will you do when you're well?" Liza asked, and he stared at her in astonishment. The strange, misty barrier between their similar languages had abruptly vanished, and he could understand her perfectly.

"I'm not sure," he began, but she visibly started in such an extreme way that he stared at her. "What is it?"

"You…you're speaking perfect German," she whispered. "Just like that. Just suddenly."

That fucking _Gate_. It'd mucked in his mind!

"I pick up languages quickly," he lied, wondering if this happened to Ed as well, if the Gate was always there, purring in the back of his head, waiting for him to not know something so that it could flash out with its neon sign and inform him. Roy knew instinctually that the Gate could inform him of any array he needed, in his head, and he'd never have to draw one again. One clap to form the circuit and…boom.

He was going to miss snapping his fingers, though. Somehow, clapping was Ed's thing, and always had been. He would have to test later to see if a snap produced the necessary circuit or if it had to be bigger than two fingers. That brought the next question about. Could he use alchemy in this strange world?

_No,_ the Gate informed him. He ignored it and clapped his palms together to test it. Nothing happened. He hated that the Gate was right. He had a hunch that he'd been feeling like that a lot in the next few days.

"I think I'll search for Edward," he finally answered her question. "You said you have no idea where he's gone. I'll just have to find him."

"With all due respect, Mr. Mustang," Franz's voice rang out, "the world is a big place. He could have traveled anywhere. His father was important in the government; Elric could have easily acquired an aeroplane and a pilot. Hey look, Liza, he's speaking just like a good German boy now!"

"Aeroplane?" Roy asked, undaunted by the commentary.

"Flying machines. They can't travel huge distances but the military used them in the war, and they're more efficient than other forms of travel," Riza explained.

"Men fly here?" The idea shook Roy to his roots for some unknown reason. "Edward would like that." Four years was a long time to miss someone. If he'd never seen Edward again, Roy would have probably been fine, lived his long, boring life to the fullest and never looked back. But that one glimpse had changed everything, and obsession had reared its ugly head, and now here he was.

"Well, if he hired a pilot, Franz can find out," Liza told him. "He took over a lot of Professor Hohenheim's research after his death, and he's relatively well known in the government." Roy nodded at the blond man, who acknowledged his look with a slight nod back.

"I'll get to it," he said, and left the room.

"Who was the man who was sitting with me?" Roy asked Liza as she stood to follow him. She turned back in surprise.

"Karl? He worked with Professor Hohenheim a bit on the mechanical aspects of his research. He rents the room above us."

"Are you and Franz…?" Riza had been so lonely in his world – he would have liked to know that her alter self was in a happy relationship. But Liza just laughed and shook her head.

"My fiancée's a sailor," she told him. "He works cargo on the military ships. He's in France as we speak." She looked at him a bit nervously. "I hope you won't be offended. We live together, even though we haven't been married yet…"

Roy had fallen in love with a fifteen year old boy, and had slept with enough women to use their names as his alchemical code. He was unlikely to be offended by _anything_. But this Liza didn't know that, so he smiled and said, "that's no problem." She beamed and he was struck again at how different she was from his Riza, the tough steel of the military. This woman showed her emotions, and the difference was apparently immediately. She left the room during his thought process, still smiling a little.

"Is he coherent?" alter-Fury's voice asked from the other room (she'd said his name was Karl). Liza's answer was too faint to make out, but Roy wondered at the amazing coincidence that his people back in Amestris would be so involved with Professor Hohenheim's work here in this alter world. Had Hohenheim gathered them on purpose?

Was there an alter version of himself running around? Maybe this Müller, he mused, remembering the snippets of conversation from the day before. Had Ed had an encounter with this alter self? Would he yell at him as viciously? Had the alter Roy perhaps seen Ed during those precious years when he'd been away?

Roy swore. Every minute he was bedridden was a minute he could be spending searching for the Elrics. He could tell by Liza's attitude that Edward was likely far away from this city (Munich, had she said?) and unlikely to return anytime soon. He wondered what Fullmetal was like as his own master, without the military holding his leash. Roy thought he was probably something like a firestorm.

He decided against asking Liza if any cities had been demolished lately. He didn't know the political climate of this other world, and it was not the most sensitive question to ask – even if it would have led him straight to Fullmetal.

Then a yawn overtook him again. The Gate purred contentedly in his mind, and he was reminded of a rather large cat.

_'Will I have this knowledge forever?'_ he asked it.

_'That is the curse of the Gate,'_ it replied smugly, then faded to a low hum in his subconscious. He groaned; this was going to give him another splitting headache, and right now he needed rest more than anything else. Once he recovered, he could go Fullmetal-hunting. And what a glorious hunt it would be. He'd need to find a guide through this new world…

He fell asleep before he could finish the thought.

\--------------------

Four days later, Roy was ready to leave. He was strong on his feet, his head no longer hurt, and he wanted to find Edward and Alphonse. The dreams had started up again, the ones that had driven him to this crazy world in the first place, and he had a feeling they wouldn't quit until he laid eyes on the Elric brothers once more.

Liza was as obliging as she could be, but she firmly insisted he wait until her fiancée returned home. "Jakob might be able to get you military clearance," she kept saying, and Roy perversely wondered what was in it for her if she helped him out. Karl Fritzsche, Fury's alter ego, told Roy he wanted to come with him, and Roy didn't have the heart to refuse him. Franz had looked into the flight records over at the base, but found no sign of Edward Elric.

"I don't know where he'd go," Franz confessed to Roy. "He could have gone _anywhere_. All we know is that he didn't take a plane. Most people travel by train anyway, so that leaves us at a disadvantage. Train records aren't kept."

"Of course," Roy said smoothly, putting on his mask. The first day he'd been all vulnerability and weakness, allowing his familiarity with their faces (well, except Franz's) to create a sense of trust. The second day, he'd awoken from dreams of a confused, cowardly Hughes to realize that these people had had completely different lives. There was nothing to ensure their loyalty to him, and they had every reason to turn him into the government as soon as possible.

It was especially hard to convince himself that Liza couldn't be trusted. She was still Riza Hawkeye sometimes, in her mannerisms and the way she wouldn't let the men take control of the situation. Karl was less meek than Kain had been, and his face had the gaunt look of a man who'd been in a war and come out of it missing some part of his sanity. Roy had heard enough about Liza's fiancée, Jakob Hauser, to prepare himself to see Havoc's familiar face when the man finally returned home. In his world, Havoc had just asked Hawkeye out for dinner the week before (she'd refused, stating that she didn't tolerate fraternization). Some part of Roy was delighted that his two subordinates had found each other in this other world.

He wondered if there was an alter version of Ed running around as well. The idea of two Eds made his head spin, but kind of ridiculously, like the exhilaration of spinning in circles. He could barely handle one.

_'What happened to my body?'_ he asked the Gate. _'The one in Amestris.'_

_'It disappeared,'_ the Gate told him. He was beginning to think it could only think smugly, but it did, after all, hold all the knowledge in the world. He wondered what Hawkeye had thought when she'd found the circle in his spare bedroom, and the spare bed set up like he was expecting guests. She'd probably gone to the firing range for a nice long bout after that one.

He was here now, though, and Liza Fischer didn't even know how to use a gun (he'd asked), and that was enough to prove to him that this world was completely different.

On the fifth day of his recuperation, Jakob Hauser returned home unexpectedly. His shipping schedule had been moved up and he'd been sent home with some time off. He greeted Liza's news of Roy's arrival with surprise and lingered in the doorway, watching Roy read history books from this new world.

"He really is the spitting image of Ross, isn't he?" Jakob whispered, but Roy heard his voice anyway and looked up from his book. He'd had days to prepare, but Havoc's face was still a surprise, especially since the ever-present cigarette was conspicuously missing. "Oh, he's awake. I'm Jakob Hauser," he said gruffly, walking over to the bed and extending his hand. Roy shook and was surprised by the man's confidence and firm grip.

"Roy Mustang. Who's Ross?" he asked politely.

"Nobody," Liza said sharply. "Don't you worry about that. Jakob, don't excite him. He had a bit of a concussion and he was feverish for a couple days. He wants to leave, but I told him to wait for you." She gave him a glare that clearly said, 'you were supposed to take much longer to get home!' and he shrugged helplessly at her. The combination amused Roy, but he went back to his book instead of observing them.

"Where do you need to go?" Hauser asked, settling down in the wooden chair someone had moved by Roy's bedside.

"I'm looking for someone," Roy told him.

"Edward Elric!" Liza informed her fiancée. "You know, Hohenheim's son. The short blond. Do you know where he's been?" Hauser shrugged again, broadly.

"I only met him once. Haven't seen him since the Professor died, when was that, two years ago? I think he fled the country. There was a giant cover up going on in relation to the Nazis and some project of theirs, and I think he was in the center of it."

"Of course," Roy muttered. "Did anything blow up?"

"A whole complex of buildings on the base," Hauser told him. "How did you know?" Roy just smiled enigmatically and gestured for the man to continue. "Anyway, I never studied under the Professor so I didn't get a chance to get to know his son very well. Although Hohenheim himself was a good man." He shrugged apologetically. "Why're you looking for the kid?"

Liza looked at him sharply. None of them had asked Roy that question, although it had been generally assumed that it was simply because Edward was from his world. Hauser was bolder than Havoc had ever been, and Roy was startled enough to answer truthfully.

"He's important to me." Liza raised a gold eyebrow, missing very little, but Hauser nodded.

"Then I'll help you find him. But first we have to figure out where he'd go."

_'What is the geography of this world?'_ he asked the Gate. The damn thing might as well be useful. Of course, after he thought that, it stayed silent, so he turned to Hauser.

"I need to see maps of this world, especially the area around this country. I have some ideas from my world, but obviously things are different." Hauser nodded, despite not knowing too much about the alter worlds, and pulled an atlas off the shelf in the corner. He flipped it open to the appropriate page and handed it to Roy.

Roy studied it for awhile – the geography had slight differences, but the Gate's translation abilities worked as well for the maps as it had for all the books he'd been reading, He studied for awhile, and though the distances were greater and the area bigger, there was a large chunk of desert to the very south. Ishbal. Alphonse and Edward both had a fascination for the Ishbalites and the people of the desert cities. If Roy had to bet, that would be the place he'd choose.

"He'd go there," he told Hauser. The sailor looked vaguely uncomfortable.

"You don't want to go there," he finally replied. "It's a mess down there. The Ottoman Empire split up a few years ago and the Brits and the French took it over. There's nothing but political upheaval and unrest there."

Aha. Fullmetal _had_ to be there.

"Edward Elric serves the people, Jakob Hauser," Roy said in his colonel voice. "If there is unrest in Ishbal, then he'll go to Ishbal." He cleared his throat at the puzzled look on the others' faces. "I mean…" he picked a random country on that region of the map, "Syria."

"I think the French are there right now," Hauser mused. "I hear the Syrians aren't very welcoming to foreigners. Especially to women." He glanced nervously at Liza, who snorted.

"I'm not going along anyways, Jakob. There's too much to go do here! Good nurses are hard to find." Her fiancée smiled and looked at Karl.

"He's in," Roy told Hauser dryly. "He refuses to be left behind." They all turned to look at Franz, who had entered quietly behind Karl and was leaning insolently against the doorframe, arms crossed. "What about you?" Roy finally asked.

"Syria's pretty far," he said. "I can't leave my research for that long. Plus, Liza needs _someone_ to take care of her." The way Hauser's eyes flared up and Liza's uncomfortable look gave Roy all the information he needed about the interesting triangle between the three of them.

"You're the most familiar with Professor Hohenheim's research," Roy pointed out. "If we should need you…"

"You're not working on crossing the boundaries into other worlds, you're looking for a short noisy blond kid," Franz shrugged apathetically. "You won't need Hohenheim's studies for that. They need me _here_." Roy sighed and gave up. He'd have liked to give Hauser less to worry about, but what was done was done, and in the end, it wasn't really much of his business anyway.

"So what I want to know," he said quietly as they were all preparing to leave him to pack, "is what you all get out of helping me."

Karl was the one who answered, nearly out the door. "We get proof that other worlds really exist. Maybe better ones. Without the war, without the poverty that we see now, everything could be better."

"I just like to travel," Hauser added. "I don't mind helping out a man down on his luck, either."

"I feel like I know you," Liza said quietly. Hauser gave Roy a suspicious glare that he avoided calmly, not wanting to make the man an enemy. "Like we've met someplace before."

"My best friend in my world has your face," Roy admitted, not really willing to part with the information, but knowing if he didn't, Hauser was going to shove his face into the floor, and then he'd have to recover _all over again_. Liza looked a little stunned, although she shook it off as firmly as Riza would have.

"Well, we'll leave you to packing," Karl told him, then dragged the rest of them out. Not that Roy had much to pack; he'd borrowed some of Hauser's clothes, since they were about the same size, and he'd had Liza pick up some toiletries for him in town, but other than that, he had no possessions, no money, nothing.

For the first time in days, he missed his gloves. His apartment. He couldn't miss the people he'd left behind; they were still here, right in front of him. But he felt a pang when he realized he'd never see Hawkeye steal Havoc's cigarette and stomp it out on the floor again, or he'd never hear Breda going on and on about useless things, or see that hero-worshipping look in Fury's eyes. They were here, but Karl would never worship him, and Hauser didn't smoke. That was enough to make them different.

But he was going to find Edward Elric. He was going to find the boy (well, man now) and his brother and they were going to find a way to return to Amestris and live happily ever after.

Liza came back in about an hour later to check his temperature and make sure his head was okay. After she removed the uncomfortable thermometer from his mouth, he asked the question that'd been biting in the back of his head for awhile.

"Did you meet Hauser through the Professor?" She looked startled and stared at him. "You did, didn't you?"

"How did you know?" she asked quietly.

"Hohenheim brought all of you together," Roy mused to himself. "You and Havoc and Fury. And I bet there are more of you, aren't there? Do you know a stocky redhaired man?"

"Bromel!" she exclaimed with surprise.

"What about a tall man with grayish hair? Squints a lot?"

"Bromel's partner, Forberg. They're lab workers down at the university." She regarded him suspiciously. "How did you know that?"

"Are there any more of you?" he asked, trying to hide his excitement. "People who Hohenheim introduced you to?" She seemed to think for a moment, then snapped her fingers in surprise.

"Ross Müller!"

"The one who looks like me," he said slowly.

"He's an officer in the military. Promoted to colonel during the war, and then after the armistice, he was forced to stay on. Now he's stuck as an officer for twenty-five years. He was one of the Professor's advisors before his death." She looked sad about this, even two months later.

Suddenly, Roy felt jealousy course through him. "Did Ross Müller ever meet Edward Elric?" he demanded. Shit, he was showing a weakness again. Liza blinked in surprise.

"I don't think so," she told him. "We all saw Edward a lot from a distance, but the Professor was very careful to keep his son from actually spending time with us. I shook hands with him once and his jaw dropped to the floor." She blinked at him. "Was he remembering your friend?"

Roy smiled. "Probably."

"Oh!" she remembered suddenly. "I meant to tell you, Jakob went down to the station, and a train leaves south tomorrow morning. It's probably your best bet to get down to Syria and the Middle Eastern countries."

"I'm more than ready to leave," Roy told her.

"However," she continued, "in order to travel out of the country you're going to need a valid passport. It's a rather new idea, but they're pretty strict about it. They're hard to fake." She got an odd look on her face. "Do you have any…moral objections…to using Ross Müller's?"

Roy blinked. "He lent it to you?"

Riza looked uncomfortable. "Not exactly. When Jakob was at the station, he swung by the base on his way home. Müller's office was open, so Jakob snuck in and grabbed his military ID and passport. Later we can claim it was an accident."

"Won't Müller get in trouble?" Roy asked. Riza laughed.

"They'll just print him a new passport, he's very important in the government. Jakob was just concerned that you would have a moral objection to…appropriating Müller's passport."

Roy had done far worse things in his life, after all. "No, not at all," he told her.

"Good, I'll let Jakob know," and then she left him alone with his thoughts. His biggest concern was why Hohenheim had felt the need to bring together all of his men in this alternate world. Did it tie in to this Ross Müller? How odd would it be to meet his alter self?

The Gate stirred in his mind. It felt very uncomfortable with the idea of him meeting his alter ego.

_'What's wrong?'_ he asked it. _'Why shouldn't I meet him?'_

_'You aren't ready,'_ the Gate replied, and then it disappeared again. Roy sighed. The damn thing was more trouble than it was worth. Ed had never given any indication that something so…sentient…resided inside his head.

He got up to take a walk outside, get some fresh air, and was close to the door when he heard a knock. Liza was there already and answered.

"Oh, Constable. These flowers are delightful! Jakob is leaving on another trip tomorrow, so you and Gracia must join me for dinner sometime while he's away."

No. Way. In. Hell.

Roy, afraid of what he would see, turned to look at the man by the door, smiling uneasily at the blonde nurse.

Maes Hughes was at Liza Fischer's door. And he was very, very, very much alive.


	3. Chapter 3

Alter-Hughes had joined them for dinner and given Roy's hand a firm shake that did nothing to deter the feeling that he was falling into nothing. He was introduced as "Matthew, he's a constable who lives down the street." Liza seemed to like him, and she spoke of his wife (still named Gracia) often enough to reassure Roy that they truly had found each other on both sides of the gate.

Hauser had brought out the beer and he and Karl drank heartily, but Roy watched Franz out of the corner of his eye. The tall blond man had refused a pint and stood in the corner like some sort of statue, observing the proceedings quietly. Roy Mustang was a man who trusted his instincts, and his instincts were telling him that something was wrong, that Franz was up to something or unhappy about something.

He squelched the feeling down, telling himself it was probably because Franz was the only unfamiliar face dining at this table tonight.

Liza and Hauser had apologetically introduced Roy as Ross Müller and Liza had taken him aside and asked him to please play the part of the arrogant colonel that they all knew. Roy slipped into the role easily, having been an arrogant colonel himself for so many years, and nursed a single pint of beer, drinking very little, although the rest of his party seemed to enjoy it.

"Müller! I've never seen your face around here before," Hughes said after discussing local business with Hauser. "Everyone's heard of you, of course. They say you're trying to edge your way into the government and take over bit by bit!" He laughed heartily and Roy was surprised to discover that his alter self had shared the same ambitions. Why would he be so similar when Riza, Hauser, and Karl were the same but at the same time so very, very different?

He smiled smugly. "The people who spread those rumors don't like it when one of the youngest colonels proves that he's smarter than they are. Don't listen to them." Hughes laughed.

"Listen to this guy! How'd you meet him? You don't seem like the types to run in the same circles…" and he peered curiously over his mug at them all.

"He was a student of Professor Hohenheim, same as myself," Franz said shortly.

"Hohenheim!" Hughes said in a jolly tone. "I knew his son, you know! Two years ago. He was living with that…that _gypsy_ woman." He made a scorned face, but then blinked sheepishly. "Gracia yells at me when I complain about things like that. But damn, we're _Germans_! We should be proud of heritage. Can't let outsiders dilute the bloodlines!"

Roy blinked. Gypsy woman?

"Are you still spouting that propaganda?" Liza asked, eyes twinkling. "Matt is a patriot," she told Roy. "He believes in the purity of the German people."

"The ideas have been around for awhile," Franz interjected from the doorway. "Don't call it propaganda. There's nothing wrong with being proud of being German." He crossed his arms staunchly.

"I don't want to debate this," Liza said, standing up from the table. "Refills?"

Hauser caught Roy's eye and shook his head minutely, indicating for him to stay silent, but Hughes was obviously on the subject of his beliefs now and wanted the opinion of a highly ranked military officer.

"So what do you believe, Colonel Müller?" he asked heartily. "Are the Germans the pure race we all believe we are?" Images flashed through Roy's mind – dark skinned, red eyed people, hiding in ghettos because of who they were, what they looked like, what they believed in. The military, mowing them down, without a single thought.

The boy he'd been forced to kill, all those years ago, red eyes still wavering in his memory for all eternity.

"People are people," Roy said honestly. "When people begin to think they're superior, soon there's bloodshed and hatred and war. It's the natural order of things." The tense feeling around the table was tangible and Roy quickly backed off. "However, we Germans do seem like a good group, do we not?" and he laughed nervously.

Hauser gave him a look that clearly said, 'good save.'

Hughes stood up and Roy wondered at the difference in this man, that he would feel so strongly towards nationalism and purity of race. The Hughes in his world had often argued for the Ishbalites, showing none of the prejudice so often seen in Amestrians. What had changed? What had made this man into someone so completely different from his friend? "I've got to be going," Hughes told them. "Gracia will be wondering where I've gotten off to. Don't tell her what we talked about!" he warned Liza, who was returning with the drinks.

"Don't worry," she said cheerfully. "Your political leanings are safe from your wife."

With that, he was gone, and Roy breathed a bit.

"Damn fool nationalists," Hauser growled. "Purity of the German race? We're all people! Look out on the street, look at all the starving people, the homeless, the legacy of our fine war. We're just people like everyone else!" He quickly kicked back some of the beer Liza had just brought him. "But they're losing their popularity. Those malicious words are faltering in the face of the rising economy. And I'm glad of it!"

"People are allowed to express their beliefs," Franz told him evenly. The tension between the two men continued to rise, and Roy was suddenly glad that Franz wouldn't be accompanying them on their trip the next day. "Do you deny us the right to be proud of our heritage?"

"It's not pride in our heritage that scares me," Hauser snapped. "It's that damned 'get rid of the outsiders' sentiment I've heard whispered. Some of that stuff that I saw two years ago, before everyone woke up and realized what was going on, scared me stiff. I'm proud to be a German! But that doesn't make me better than the French man who runs the market, or even the Arab who lives next door. It's fools like that Hughes, who'll listen to anyone, that make this country dangerous!" He stood abruptly. "We have to get up early tomorrow. I'm going to bed." He was upstairs before anyone could say anything more.

Liza looked concerned. "This stuff really upsets him. His father's Jewish, you know, and the Jewish have always been the main targets for stuff like this. I'd better go make sure everything's okay," and then she too disappeared upstairs.

Franz and Karl looked at each other and sighed.

"Is this normal?" Roy asked.

"Fighting over politics? Liza tries to keep it from coming up," Karl told him. "Franz is a nationalist supporter, though not as staunch as Hughes, so there's always a bit of tension, but it's never this bad."

"Hughes _is_ a damn fool," Franz replied evenly. "A lot of what he says is true, but he has no discretion. I know better than to piss Hauser off." He shrugged on his coat and smiled at Roy. "You're probably overwhelmed. Professor Hohenheim and his son were also very confused when they first arrived here. Give it time." He nodded at Karl. "I've got to be getting home. I don't know if I'll be seeing you before you leave tomorrow, and if I don't, I'm honored that I got to meet a man from another world such as yourself." He gave Roy the firm handshake he was beginning to expect from the men from this world, then swirled out the door into the night.

"Hauser is right," Roy told Karl as he was getting ready to retire himself. "Those ideas are poisonous. I've seen what they can do, in my world. An entire race was nearly wiped out because my people were too arrogant to realize what they were doing." He thought of the scarred man, whom he'd hated for reminding him of his sins, of the children he'd helped, of the boy he'd killed. "I hope your country knows what it's doing."

"We like to think that we do!" Karl laughed.

But Roy went to bed that night unsure and uncomfortable, wishing he really was a colonel in the military in this world, that there was something he could do to help a country heading down the same path as Amestris had, so many years ago.

\--------------------

He entered the foyer, carrying his bags, to see Hauser and Karl arguing fiercely with Breda's alter-self. The redhead looked mostly the same, although a bit leaner, and had an identical incorrigible look in his eyes.

"I may not like Franz, but he's right. This sort of research is dangerous," Hauser was saying loudly.

"The Professor would have wanted us to continue his work!" alter Breda was arguing.

"Without his discretion, we can't be sure what will happen! We don't know who to trust if something goes wrong."

"Edward Elric knows his father's research. If someone could _find_ the damn kid…" Then Breda noticed Roy and smiled warmly. "Müller! What're you doing hanging around with this lot?"

"Just preparing for a journey," and he caught Hauser's mouthed words, "…Bromel."

"We're actually going to find Elric, ironically enough," Hauser told the redhead drolly. "If we succeed, we'll bring him back, and then you can ask him all the questions you want. Until then, it's a bad idea to continue this project!"

"You don't have clearance over my project," Bromel growled. "Not even Müller here has the authority to shut it down, and we all know he's setting himself up to be Chancellor. Hauser, whether you like it or not, the research will continue! It's what Hohenheim would have wanted."

"Hohenheim would have wanted you to keep your fingers away from dangerous technology," Hauser countered. "Franz knew him better than any of us. If he says that the project is dangerous, I believe him."

Liza entered then, took one look at the scene in the foyer, and smacked them all. "You're upsetting our guest! Again! After the argument last night, it's a wonder he thinks we're decent people at all." She pressed a tin into Roy's hands. "I cooked you some snacks for the trip. If you all eat them sparingly, they _should_ last you." She gave Hauser a warning look, smiled hello at Bromel, and disappeared back into the kitchen.

"Woman's got you whipped," Bromel told Hauser.

"She's worth it," the sailor replied with a grin. "Get out. We'll figure this out when we get back. If you destroy the world before then, we'll all know who to blame."

"I have no intention of destroying anything," Bromel muttered as he clambered out the door.

They took a cab to the station and Roy was pleased to note that cars were at about the same level of technology here in Germany. He'd always wanted to learn to drive, but after losing his eye, he had a sinking feeling he would never be able to learn. Hauser and the driver discussed politics the whole way in short, clipped tones, but Roy didn't know enough to get involved, and Karl stared at the window, looking slightly pale.

Finally they arrived and the three men got out. The station was large, nearly as big as Central Station, and the trains were also at the same technological level of their Amestrian counterparts. Roy wondered at how parallel the world seemed at one moment, and how alien it seemed the next. He felt so vulnerable here and wished he could use alchemy, but what was done was done.

A cheerful blond girl sold them three tickets on the southbound train and they boarded quickly, before it got too crowded. Roy pulled out the tin Liza had given him and passed it to Hauser. "You should probably keep this." The other man smiled slightly at him, not truly willing to trust him, and tucked the tin into his own pack. As the train started, Roy found himself dozing off, the effects of his travel still getting to him slightly. The familiar noises of traveling by train lulled him to sleep quickly.

He woke to find Hauser staring at him thoughtfully.

"You probably should introduce yourself as Müller," he said when he noticed Roy's eye was open. "You've been playing the part of Ross Müller rather well for a few days, and Roy Mustang is too foreign a name for you to be believably traveling with the rest of us."

"I suppose I could do that," Roy said slowly. "You know this world better than I do, and if you really think it would be a good idea…"

"I doubt Müller would be upset," Hauser told him, which left Roy with some doubts. If someone who looked like _him_ had been traveling around under his name in Amestris, he would have been infuriated.

He wondered if his alter ego's spy network was as good as his own had been, back in those days when he actually had the power to use them. If they were, there was no doubt that Müller already knew of his existence. He tried to think how the other man would react, and found he really had no idea. Despite Müller being him, he didn't know how different they were.

"I trust your judgment," Roy told Hauser, even though he wasn't sure if he truly did or not. Cultivating his allies was the first step into surviving in this world. Perhaps someday he'd even gather them all together and try to form the tight bonds his people had shared in Amestris. The arguments between Hauser and Hughes and the rest of them and Bromel had pained him in a way he never thought possible. He'd worked so very hard with his people to bring them close together – it was like seeing years of work unraveled before his eyes.

Hauser went back to the book he'd been reading and left Roy alone with his thoughts. He hadn't allowed himself to think about what it all truly meant, that he might be seeing Edward Elric for the first time in two years. Edward had grown a lot between fifteen and seventeen – Roy was terrified that he'd meet him again and not recognize the nineteen year old that he'd become. Edward Elric had grown up, and suddenly Roy's feelings, the ones he'd left buried deep where no one could find them, wanted nothing more than to find out how grown up he truly was.

He fell back asleep again and dreamed of gold.

\--------------------

Two weeks later, after an exhausting two train rides and one boat ride later, they pulled into their stop in Syria's capital city of Damascus. Every time they'd passed a country's border, the officials checking on passport information had made him extremely nervous, but he produced the military papers that Hauser had procured for him calmly and nothing ever seemed out of line. Müller would pitch a fit when he found out, though, Roy could feel it in his blood.

He'd gotten to know Hauser over the past two weeks, and he found himself liking the passionate man almost as much as Havoc. Hauser had the cockiness of a sailor and the pride of his Jewish ancestors, and it seemed these two traits were what made him so different from the Havoc of his time.

Karl was older than Kain Fury had been in Roy's world, and heart sore from the great war. He'd fought in the trenches and lost a lot of compatriots to the horrors there. He didn't talk about his war days past that, but Roy understood. Karl and Hauser were finally separate in his mind from Fury and Havoc, and that separation was probably the most unsettling thing of all.

As they were about to disembark, the Gate niggled at him.

_'You're in the wrong place,'_ it told him. He firmly told it to shut up and grabbed his luggage. _'The golden boy is south of here.'_ That stopped Roy cold.

_'You can sense Edward?'_ he asked it, pissed that it hadn't mentioned this little fact until now. Was he slowly losing his grip on sanity? But no, the Gate was still smug and arrogant, curling around the piece of information it was about to divulge like a cat.

_'He's in a country to the south, called Transjordan,'_ the Gate said abruptly. _'In the city of Amman.'_ Roy grabbed Hauser's arm as the man went to pass him and leave the train.

"Wait! He's further south."

Karl and Hauser blinked at him in surprise.

"How do you know?" Hauser demanded, suddenly suspicious. "You haven't said anything through this whole trip. Our tickets are for Damascus, and we'll have to buy new ones. Why didn't you say anything until now?"

_Because the damn Gate in my head is a sadistic freak,_ Roy thought angrily, but decided to bullshit his way out of it. Hauser and Karl didn't know anything about his world; he could lie easily.

"Edward and I are both alchemists. Because of that, I can…feel…his alchemic signature when I get within a close enough radius." Oh, but it was good, authoritative-sounding bullshit. That was the best kind. "For some reason, I felt it just as we reached here. He's further south."

"The country south of here would be…Transjordan," Karl told Hauser. "We could get off here and buy more tickets." Roy was pleased that Karl's conclusion matched up with what the Gate had told him; it looked like Transjordan was indeed the next place to go.

The air was hot when he stepped off the train, and at the ticket booth Karl discovered with annoyance that German marks were not accepted. Hauser went off to exchange their money and Roy and Karl sat gingerly on a bench, breathing in the smell of fuel and too many people lingering in the dry heat.

"Prime vacation spot," Roy muttered.

Hauser returned a few moments later with the exchanged money and a slight smile. Luckily, they had time to re-board their southbound train and settled themselves in the same seats they'd had before.

"It's three days to Amman," Hauser told Roy crossly. "You'd better be right about this, I'm sick of traveling."

"I'm right," Roy said with a confidence he didn't truly feel.

_'You're right,'_ the Gate said, feeling full and contented. Roy mentally made an obscene gesture at it, which it just ignored. He pulled out his book, a history of the German people before the Great War, and began to read.

After a long while, he fell asleep again, and his last thought was that he, too, was very sick of traveling.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter where a lot of my guesswork comes in. From my research I found out that the Middle East was highly unstable during the period of time between WWI and WWII and there was a lot of anger at the Europeans for colonizing and exploiting them. Unfortunately, it's really hard to find really detailed information about life in the Middle East during the 1920s, so I did a lot of assumptions and guesswork based on how other highly unstable cultures reacted under colonial pressures. I'm only cautious about how it might be interpreted because it's such a touchy subject nowadays, so I think I'm just trying to say - please don't take any of this past face value! Thank you &lt;3.

Amman was as hot as Damascus had been, and the first thing Hauser did after getting off the train was buy them hat-like covers for their heads. The sun beat down bright and burning, heat waves rose off the streets, and Roy could never remember a time when he'd been so warm, even in Ishbal. The heat was astounding.

They'd rented two rooms in a hostel run by a British couple, and after claiming beds and stowing their bags, they met in the room Roy had to himself to discuss their course of action.

"We should begin by asking the local government if they've encountered any disturbances," Roy told them. "Fullmetal is volatile and a bit too 'helpful' when dealing with people. He definitely leaves a clear trail in his wake." Hauser and Karl regarded each other, then Hauser shook his head.

"Things are too unstable here for us to go to the government. The British and the Arabs don't get along, and the British still don't like us Germans after the war. It's a bad idea, asking for help from people like that." He looked thoughtfully out the window at the inferno of the afternoon sun. "We should inquire around shops and stores, and at the local pubs. Gossip spreads quickly in places like that, and we're less likely to be noticed by any of the fringe groups."

"This is not the safest place we could be," Karl said worriedly.

"I have to find him," Roy was firm. "I've been in danger before. The situation here sounds very similar to one in my own world, albeit less violent. I think we'll be okay."

"They don't like foreigners here," Hauser said, scratching his blond hair. "I should dye my hair black. I wouldn't stick out as much." Roy and Karl, already black-haired, nodded in surprise. "I look too German for my own good."

"European, I think," Karl said with a slight grin. "All that Germanic pride stuff must be getting to you." Hauser snarled at him.

"Never." He paused and changed the subject. "We should get some rest and start out bright and early tomorrow, though. If we put in enough inquiries at the local shops, we should get some results if he's here. I'll dye my hair tonight." The British man who owned the hostel had pulled Hauser aside and pressed a bottle of hair dye into his hand earlier, with a fierce look. "Our pale skin might still be a problem, because we still look European, but at least my hair won't be attracting attention."

With that, Karl and Hauser left him alone with his thoughts. Roy mused briefly that he seemed to be sleeping an awful lot before he laid himself out on the rough bed, dozing off.

He awoke later that evening. The sun was setting and the foreign city was painted with gold, streaming in his window. The color reminded him of Edward and he was suddenly unsure again – what was he doing here, in this foreign world, with these people he knew and yet didn't? What would Edward say when he found out that Mustang had fallen through the Gate while trying to retrieve him? Would he be angry? Would he be flattered?

Was there a chance, however slight, that Edward Elric could…feel the same way?

Suddenly Roy was restless and he had to move. The sunset outside was beautiful and the streets seemed emptier than earlier that day, so he pulled on the thick robes he'd been given before and veiled his head so that only his face was visible, and that just barely. Dressed like everyone else, it was unlikely he would be noticed as a foreigner, he reasoned.

He snuck down the back stairs of the hostel and out the front door, needing to be alone with his thoughts without Hauser or Karl tagging along. He knew it was stupid to go out by himself in unfamiliar territory, but something about the sunset was pulling him, slowly. He had walked down the empty side street and into a large market square before he'd really realized where he was going, but the crowd filling the market wasn't normal, and his military instinct told him a riot was forming.

_Get out,_ he thought, _get out now!_ The last thing he wanted, as a foreigner, was to be stuck in a riot in a place that was decidedly skittish of outsiders. As he turned to leave the square, however, a man fell roughly into him and the veil covering his European features was suddenly and abruptly gone.

The people around him turned and stared at him and a murmuring had gone through the crowd. Shit, this was bad. He was surrounded and the people whose faces he could see looked pissed off and afraid. He was going to become a scapegoat, and he couldn't use his alchemy.

A small hand took his.

A figure veiled in the same thick robes as the rest of the crowd snapped in barely audible German, "come on!" and pulled him through the crowd before they realized what was going on. The loud rumble behind him signaled pursuit, but his rescuer was fast on his feet and soon they were up a catwalk and sitting in a small alcove above a sweets shop.

"What the fuck, Müller?" the man in the robe snapped, and Roy's brain froze.

That _voice_.

Edward?

And then he'd shoved back the veil and it was indeed Edward, older and taller and _wiser_ and Roy _couldn't think at all_. He just stared at him, stunned, as Ed scowled at him in that same familiar way that he always had. "What the fuck are you doing down here? Did your posh office in Munich get too boring?"

It registered. _Müller._

"Um," he said brilliantly. His brain was stopped dead in his tracks, so he blurted out the truth. "I was looking for you."

"Fuck, well you found me, and almost got yourself lynched. Good work." Edward ran a hand through his bangs and Roy was amused to note that the loose strands of hair that stuck out antenna-like above his bangs were still there, although he wore his hair in a high ponytail. "The old man is dead, _Colonel_. I'm no longer indebted to you. Leave me alone!"

With that, he checked to see that they were far enough away from the mob. They were, and he was about to climb back down the catwalk and flee into the streets when Roy's brain caught up to him. The Gate was mentally kicking him.

"Wait," he said quietly. "Listen to what I have to say."

Ed turned and looked at him in surprise and a bit of suspicion. So much for him not being acquainted with Roy's other self. But what was this Müller like, to make Edward so wary of him?

_Don't look at me like that. I'm Roy Mustang,_ he wanted to say, but something stopped the words from coming out. Edward was regarding him with those golden eyes and all he wanted to do was _hug_ him, which was ridiculous because Roy didn't hug people. But it'd been two years since he'd seen the boy – no, man – in front of him, and two years had been too long.

_'Don't ask about Alphonse,'_ the Gate bitched at him. _'And don't tell him who you are.'_

'_Shut up,'_ he told the Gate, but when he went to ask after the younger Elric, something was also blocking that. _'You bastard.'_ The Gate was worried, and that worried Roy, because for the Gate to be something other than smugly catlike was unusual.

"Well?" Edward said, raising an eyebrow and looking ready to leave at any moment.

"We need you back in Munich," Roy said, pulling out his mastery of bullshit. "Bromel and…" oh fuck, what was alter Farman's name? He couldn't remember. "…and Franz are digging in your father's files. They've uncovered a project that could destabilize this world."

"Bullshit. You'd be right behind a project like that, asshole," Edward said in such a familiar way that Roy's brain stopped for a moment again.

"With you deciphering your father's notes," he continued, finally, "they have less of a chance of destroying the balance between worlds. Surely you know that better than anyone." Edward had a sparkle in his eye, one of interest, and Roy grabbed onto that look with all he could muster. "You don't have to make a decision now. Talk it over with…anyone you're working with…and come back to me with a decision. We're staying at the hostel run by the Windsors…"

"I know where it is," Ed said sullenly.

"Please." Then he played his trump card. "We both know Hohenheim gathered all his people together for a reason. We could find out what that reason is."

Edward's eyes had widened. Apparently he, too, had noticed his father cultivating Roy Mustang and his people in this other world. "I…I think that might be a good idea," he said. "I'll…come find you sometime this week." With that, he was down the catwalk and gone, and Roy was alone again. The sun had completely set and lanterns lit the streets.

"I missed you, Fullmetal," he whispered into the night, but there no one else to hear.

\--------------------

When he returned back, Hauser and Karl were seated in front of his door, wearing twin expressions of anger. Oh, shit.

"I found him," he said, to stall any lecturing.

"You did?!" Karl exclaimed, immediately forgetting his anger. Hauser didn't, though, and glared at Roy as he opened the door to his room and let them all in. While Karl settled himself on the bed, Hauser remained by the door, face unreadable.

"He's going to come back to Munich with us. I think." Edward had certainly seemed agreeable, once Hohenheim's manipulations had come up. "But there's one slight problem. He thinks I'm Ross Müller."

"Oh hell, and you couldn't have just told him you weren't?!" Hauser snapped, that volatile temper bubbling just under the surface rising a bit.

"The way our conversation was going, it didn't seem prudent," Roy lied. But what else was he supposed to say? That the giant doors in his head had said 'no' and when the doors talked, he hopped to? They were likely to write him off as insane at that point, and he'd never see Edward again. And that was the last thing he wanted after that encounter tonight.

_I don't even know you anymore, Fullmetal,_ he thought sadly.

Hauser and Karl looked skeptical, but had a quick conversation via glances and decided not to question Roy further. "You should tell him your identity soon," Hauser suggested. "Kid's got a temper."

"I'll tell him when I'm ready," Roy said, and it wasn't a total lie. '_Gate!'_ he shouted inside his head, _'You'd better have a good reason for this!'_ Of course, the Gate said nothing.

He must have looked like he was in a seriously bad mood, because Hauser and Karl left him alone for the rest of the night.

\--------------------

The next morning, Roy woke to loud voices in the hallway outside.

"What do you mean he's still asleep?!" a familiar impertinent voice demanded. It was strange to hear Ed yelling in German, but the yelling itself was so undeniably _Ed_ that Roy snuggled back down into his pillow and tried to forget that he'd lied to him just the day before. If he didn't tell Ed the truth that morning, when the shit did hit the fan, Ed was going to kill him.

The Gate, waking up as well, disapproved and made it known that it would not, under any circumstances, let him inform Ed of his identity until they were sure Ed was coming back with them to Munich. By that point, it would be too late anyway, Roy mused. He was not going to survive this.

His door burst open abruptly, and then it was kicked shut again as the small blond entered. The actions were so familiar that Roy's heart ached.

"Good morning, Edward," he said sleepily, the Gate translating his automatic "Fullmetal" into his name.

"Müller, you fuck!" Edward shouted.

"Brother!" a familiar voice yelped from outside, and then the door opened again and Alphonse streamed in. Both brothers were dressed in the heavy Arabic robes that Ed had been wearing last night, and Alphonse, who would be fourteen now, had grown several inches to tower even more over his older brother.

Roy would bet that every time Al grew an inch, Fullmetal threw a tantrum. He wished he'd been there to see it.

"Colonel Müller," Alphonse said, giving a short, awkward sort of bow. "We haven't met, but I'm Alphonse Elric. I'm Edward's younger brother, and I apologize for any of his rudeness ahead of time!"

"Al!" Ed shouted. "You don't know him. This isn't Mustang, this is _Müller_." Roy caught the acidity of the distinction and was thrown briefly. Had Fullmetal too learned of how different the people here could be from their Amestrian counterparts?

"That's no excuse to be rude!" Al was saying.

"What have I done now?" he asked wearily, wondering how much he'd have to pay for his alter ego's crimes.

"Al thinks we should go back with you to Munich. You lying fuck, I know you left something out of your story!" Behind him, Hauser and Karl peered past Alphonse to watch the commotion. From the look on Hauser's face, he seemed to think that it served Roy right for lying about his identity.

The Gate caught his "Fullmetal" again and switched it. "Edward. I would never ask you to do something dangerous." So that was bullshit in both worlds. It was worth it just to see Fullmetal's face purple up.

Oh, how he'd missed baiting the boy! It was possibly his favorite pastime.

"I don't trust you. But you're right about my old man, you're right about what he did, and as you're the only one who sees it, I guess I have to go with you. You asshole." Edward never gave in easily and Al looked embarrassed at his brother's language, but Roy just smiled. He'd missed this more than they'd ever know.

"I took the liberty of slipping out to buy tickets," Hauser grumbled from behind them. "The next train back north doesn't leave for two days, but Edward informs me that he has some business to finish up before they leave, anyway."

"Surely a demolition crew could take care of it, Fullmetal," Roy said smugly, and growled in annoyance when again, his "Fullmetal" turned into "Edward" when spoken. Ed gave him an odd look, then glared.

"I'm not going to destroy anything! Every time I see you, you act more and more like that shit colonel from my world. You must be aging into it," he snapped, then to Roy's astonishment, Edward _leered_ at him before turning on his heel and stalking out.

"Forgive my brother, he's just so temperamental!" Al lamented. "I can't get him to be polite to _anybody_, and it's so bad we don't even know which government put the bounty on his head!"

Now _that_ was interesting, and an even better reason to get Edward back to Germany as soon as possible. "Edward has a bounty on his head?" Roy gave up trying to say Fullmetal. He thought unkind things at the Gate, but the Gate didn't respond.

"We _think_ it's because he freed a bunch of slaves from a prince over in Palestine," Al explained. "But there have been plenty of incidents that could have been behind it. Brother's not exactly…discreet."

"You'd think he'd have gotten better with age," Roy mused. Al gave him the same odd look that Ed had bestowed on him a few moments earlier. "Ah well. You'd best go after him." Al nodded and was out the door after his brother in seconds. As the door shut behind him, Roy suddenly wanted nothing more than to go home, take the Elrics and return to Amestris and forget about all the intrigue he'd discovered since he'd landed in this new world.

But that wasn't possible. He sighed, stood up, and laughed at himself in the mirror.

There's a first time for everything, but Roy had never even imagined he would ever sit and argue with Fullmetal with _bed head_. Well, at least, not in the context that it had actually occurred in.

At least life was never boring with Edward Elric around.

\--------------------

They had just sat down to a hearty breakfast with the cheerful British couple when Edward Elric burst back into the room. Roy gave him his best uninterested look and returned to the food on his plate.

"I need to talk to Müller," he snapped. "Alone."

"You just talked to me forty-five minutes ago, Edward. Surely it can wait until after breakfast," he said smoothly, calmly drinking some sort of fruit juice. Edward huffed and glared at him.

"Getting more like Mustang every day," he muttered under his breath, and to Roy's astonishment, his cheeks pinked attractively.

Well. What was _that_?

"Although, I suppose I can take a few minutes," Roy continued, getting up to stand next to Fullmetal. Edward glared staunchly at the British couple, Hauser, and Karl before leading the way into the small alcove back by the washrooms. He then proceeded to glare up at him. Roy waited patiently. And waited.

Finally, he spoke. "Are you going to get to the point, Edward, or are you simply stunned by our height difference?" Oops, he hadn't meant for the short joke to slip out. Edward turned a lovely shade of red and growled low in his throat.

Roy decided Edward should never be able to make that noise again, because it twisted itself around his libido all too pleasantly. It'd been a long time since he'd slept with anyone, and he'd been fixated on Fullmetal for…four years, now. There was no way that Edward should ever be allowed to tease him.

Ed scowled and looked to the side, very similarly to the way he had when he was fifteen. "I need your help. You're good at sounding authoritative, and I know you speak Arabic because of how you warded off those attackers a few years ago. Plus, Al and I could use someone to cover our backs." He pressed a handgun into Roy's palm firmly. "I wouldn't be asking unless I really needed it, you shithead. I won't forget what you tried to do, and I'll never forgive you. But since you're here, I might as well use you."

"What did I try to do, Edward?" he asked quietly. Ed shied away as if stung and glared viciously.

"As if you don't know. Blackmail, Müller, is _illegal_ if you don't remember. In my world _and_ yours. If you ever try to use my brother against me again, I'll slit your throat in your sleep. Do you hear me?" Edward was so menacing, so angry, that Roy shivered. What had his alter self done? Threatened Al?

Roy Mustang and Ross Müller were going to have to have a talk, like real soon. Because Müller had obviously not looked after Fullmetal the way he should have, and Mustang was going to have to kill him.

"I've turned over a new leaf," he said, unsure of what else to tell him.

"Well I'm not getting that slimy feeling I normally get when I'm around you," Edward growled. "Otherwise I wouldn't even trust you not to shoot me in the back. But you really must have changed, because now you're almost like...him…" and he shoved away from Roy and stood in the middle of the hallway, as if he didn't know where to go.

"My Arabic is rusty," Roy told him dryly.

"Fuck. Tell me your shooting isn't."

Roy hadn't been to the shooting range in over a month, but Riza had trained him diligently from the get-go, so he figured he was still a decent enough shot. It would have been nice to have alchemy though. "I figure I'm still a good shot."

"Müller, for a sharpshooter, 'a good shot' isn't going to cut it." Sharpshooter? His alter self was the Riza Hawkeye of Germany? The thought was terrifying, and he knew he couldn't live up to it. Would Edward notice? At least he had both eyes back. Shooting had been a pain in the ass with no depth perception, and he was always careful to clear out the range before he practiced until he was sure he could hit a target just as well with one eye.

It had been the same with his alchemy, really. It was a wonder that he'd never have to worry about that again.

"I should be fine."

"Come with me," Edward told him. He clambered down the stairs to the exit. "Unless you want to finish your breakfast?"

"I can function without it," Roy answered with a slight smirk. He followed Edward out onto the street, pulling the hood up over his face. Dust swam around and the day was hotter than the day before, but _Edward Elric_ was in front of him, and it was like a ray of sunshine. "So, Edward, tell me. Who are you planning to liberate this time?"

Ed stopped dead in his tracks and whirled around to face Roy. The way he was bundled, Roy could only truly see his eyes and a bit of his face, but he could tell Edward was frustrated. "Müller, you are acting _so fucking weird_. If you're planning to betray me or anything I will kill you, so stop trying to make small talk and follow me." Roy was surprised there was no steel against his throat, but then he remembered Edward could no longer transmute his automail. If he even had it.

_'I have to tell him the truth,'_ he snapped at the Gate.

_'Not yet,'_ the Gate smirked in reply.

The walked in silence for a ways, through street vendors and people going about their daily shopping, until finally ducking into a short alley. A third bundled figure sat in the shade beneath one of the houses, waiting. Alphonse. "Sorry for pulling you away from your breakfast, Colonel Müller, sir," the younger Elric apologized.

"It's nothing," Roy told him, smiling.

"All right, Müller, you get your explanation now," Edward growled. "Al and I were hired by a man to find his daughter. He thinks that some minor prince got a hold of her while he wasn't looking and that she's been sold into slavery. It turns out that's not what happened at all. She joined a temple, but while I was searching for her, I came across a group of slavers who specialize in children. I'm going to go shut them down."

Roy felt vaguely ill. Slavery was not a common problem in Amestris, although rumor had it that some of the Northern Cretans were in the slavery business. But, like everything else that had to do with injustice and inequality, it seemed to connect back to Ishbal in Roy's mind, and he touched his hand to the gun tucked into his belt. Edward was always the idealist, the humanitarian. It was no different here in this other universe. It was the same Edward.

Perhaps he'd let his gaze linger too long, because Ed shifted uncomfortably in his thick robes and though Roy couldn't see it, he was imagining the scowl beneath that hood.

"So what's the plan?" Roy asked, nervous about the gun at his belt. The Edward of his world had hated killing, hated guns. He could hardly imagine they would run in their, guns blazing.

"You, colonel, are going to order that they hand over all slave operations according to government mandate. You can certainly sound pompous enough," Edward sneered. Roy was about to object that he didn't speak Arabic when he felt the Gate rummaging around in his brain again. Suddenly the language was familiar to him, almost fluent, and he sighed dramatically.

"So much trouble."

"We can shut down operations without bloodshed if we time it right. I know it's not a concern of _yours_ whether they live or die, but I care," Edward replied. "You can accomplish so much more if you outsmart your opponent. Once we shut down their base, I'll come back to Munich with you." There was a challenge in his eyes. "I'd better be able to trust you, you bastard."

"I won't let anything happen to you," Roy told him earnestly, but Edward just snorted.

Neither of them noticed Alphonse watching Roy with a funny look on his face.

\--------------------

Considering the half-assed quality of the plan, Roy was amazed that it went so smoothly. In the end, the building _had_ ended up demolished, but only after everyone was out of it. He supposed it was Fullmetal's trademark and he could hardly fault the boy for it. The slavers had grudgingly accepted the papers Edward had drawn up, including a promise of pension from the government in return for legalizing their business.

The gun had never left his belt, thank God. After Ishbal, he hated using the things in real situations.

Edward looked so satisfied with himself after everything was cleaned up and dusted off that Roy didn't have the heart to tell him that the slavers would probably start all over again once they realized that the fat government check they'd been promised wasn't legit.

In some ways, it reminded him of Lior. Edward had done what he could for the short-term, but in the long-term, it took more than two determined brothers to make any sort of actual difference.

They stopped in front of the hostel just as the afternoon was fading into evening, and Roy handed the gun back to Ed.

"It was a pleasure to work with you today, Fullmetal," he said, although again the 'Fullmetal' changed to 'Edward'.

"Cut the crap, Müller," Edward growled. "You may walk like a duck and talk like a duck, but you're not Roy Mustang and you never will be." He glared frostily, a challenge in his eyes.

_On the contrary, Fullmetal. I'm more Roy Mustang than you'll ever know,_ Roy wanted to say, but the damn words wouldn't leave his throat. Instead, he smiled smugly and asked, "Why are you talking about ducks?"

"I'll come with you to Munich," Edward told him, undaunted. "But not to help you out, you bastard. The Gate between worlds can never be opened again, and it's about time Bromel and the other fools at the university figured it out. If they try, they'll seriously disrupt the balance."

"You made the right choice," Roy told him, his hand on the door knob.

"Like you care anything about that," he heard Edward growl behind him. "Come on, Al, let's go." As they started off, Edward turned back just as he was through the door. "I hate that you wear his face, you fucker." He added, then ran to catch up with his brother.

Roy shivered and tried not to think too hard on Fullmetal's behavior.

He had a sinking feeling that he wasn't going to like Ross Müller very much.


	5. Chapter 5

He was dreaming about the day he'd first kissed Edward Elric. Conveniently, it was also the day he'd _last_ kissed Edward Elric. Months of pretending that he wasn't attracted to his fifteen year old subordinate had finally caught up to him, and…

_He cornered him in the supply closet, the boy's back pressed uncomfortably against the shelves._

"C-Colonel?" Edward stammered in surprise before the usual fury overtook him. "What the fuck do you think you're doing, you shit—" And Roy couldn't take it anymore, because Edward's cheeks just flushed so nicely_ when he was angry._

"Fullmetal, even you cannot be this naïve," he said firmly, then claimed the boy's lips with his own. Edward's eyes widened briefly, but Roy was an expert – he knew how to kiss well, and he was currently focusing all of his skills towards this blushing, bristling boy in front of him.

Edward grabbed his collar and pulled him closer, turning aggressive, and it totally threw Roy's mind in a loop because he'd never once expected Edward to be willing…

So he pulled away abruptly, allowed himself to admire the sight of Edward, flushed and panting from the kiss, and so damn young_, and then turned on his heel and left the closet._

He'd never dared kiss him again. After that, Edward had become even more defensive and angry towards him…

He woke with a gasp, remembering the feeling of kissing Fullmetal, and how much he'd hated himself afterwards. He'd almost repressed the memory beyond reach, but something had unlocked it.

He had a feeling he knew what that something was.

_'Gate!'_ he mentally yelled into his head. _'I want some answers!'_ The Gate gave him the feeling of a sleeping panther, peaceful and a little dangerous, but Roy was in no mood to be intimidated by a pair of doors. He was a grown man! _'Gate!'_

_'What do you want?'_ the Gate asked in annoyance. It had obviously been enjoying sleep as much as he had.

_'Why am I hiding my true identity from Edward?'_ Roy growled. _'I won't let you hurt Fullmetal. If you try, I'll find a way to destroy you. I swear it.'_

_'I'm not trying to hurt him,'_ the Gate sneered. _'And you can never destroy me. I am Truth.'_

_'Why are you using me?!'_ he demanded. _'Why can't I tell Edward who I really am?'_

The Gate sighed. _'You don't trust anyone, do you?'_

_'No. It's Fullmetal's safety we're talking about here. This isn't some radio program where the good guys win in the end. What are your plans for him? Haven't you taken enough of his life?'_ Roy was incensed, angry, because this was about _Edward_ and the Gate was still toying with his life, even after he'd paid back his debt.

_'Edward Elric cannot return to Amestris,'_ The Gate told him, suddenly straightforward in a way that made Roy's brain ache. Too bad it'd given him a totally bullshit answer.

_'What does that have to do with Ross Müller and I?'_ he pressed on. _'Why does Edward hate Müller? Why does he have to think that I am Müller?'_

_'Roy Mustang,'_ the Gate said. _'If Edward Elric had known who you were, he would have immediately taken you back to Amestris. That cannot happen. The Fullmetal Alchemist must go to Munich!'_

Roy blinked. _'Fullmetal doesn't know how to get back to Amestris…'_ Then it hit him. His stomach lurched violently and he felt vaguely ill. _'Does he?'_ The Gate was silent. _'Does he?!'_

Roy had put so much time and effort into attempting to retrieve the Elrics that he'd always just assumed that Edward would be working on the same thing from the other side of the Gate. That Edward would want to return, maybe even to see _him_.

Now, it appeared that Edward had known all along how to return and just…hadn't.

The Gate was still silent, not answering his last question, so he switched tactics before he went out and murdered a certain blond alchemist. _'Why does Edward need to go to Munich?'_

_'You'll see,'_ The gate said cryptically before it faded from his mind, leaving only the vague hum in the back of his throat that had been there since he'd acquired it. Roy was so frustrated that he wanted to kick the door to his room, hoping the Gate would feel the assault on one of its cousins, but he wrote that behavior off as "immature and Fullmetal-like" and instead opted to go back to sleep.

_This time they were standing in the crowd at Central's main train station, both clutching tickets. Roy had his arm lazily draped around Fullmetal's shoulders, and a stray thought ran through his mind:_ this is how it should be.

_Edward was grouchy and tired, scowling at the crowd like they had all come to the station just to personally piss him off, but he made no move to remove Roy's arm and after a moment, he moved slightly closer. It was the most public affection Roy had ever received from him before…_

"Here he comes," Edward growled, his metal hand suddenly snatching at Roy's coat. "You shit, you never listen to me! I told you he didn't go back!"

The crowd was slowly disappearing as a nearby train began boarding, and as it parted, a man strode forward, hands in his pockets in such a breathtakingly familiar _gesture that Roy couldn't believe it, even though his dream timeline told him he should be used to this._

He _stood there, being passed by travelers, staring at them with a predatory look in his eyes. _

"That fuck!" Edward yelled, tugging on Roy's coat. "I told you he was here!" And Roy knew who the man was, even though he didn't at the same time, and he snapped his eyes up to meet Ross Müller's and wondered at how the man at his side could be so comfortable with him when he obviously hated the man whom Roy might have become…

Müller gave an ironic little grin. "Hello, Mustang," he said, his voice as seductive a purr as Roy had ever mastered. "Time to wake up."

Then he clapped his hands together.

When Roy woke again, clutching at the thin sheets on his bed, daylight was streaming in through the flimsy linen curtains. It was finally morning, and they had one more day to go before they could leave the hot desert city and return to Munich. Roy hoped it would rain when they returned to Germany.

Something was bothering him in the back of his mind. Something about Müller, and a dream, but the pieces fled before he could catch hold of them, and all he was left with was a vague uneasiness that made him feel restless. He did remember arguing with the Gate, and that Edward knew how to return to Amestris, even though he hadn't actually done so. But why not?

He slipped on the familiar robes and went outside to find Hauser and Karl already shoveling down a large English breakfast. The look Hauser gave him was nothing short of annoyed, and Roy noted he'd slept in later than he'd anticipated.

"Edward Elric was looking for you," Karl told him after he'd swallowed some of that delicious juice. "We told him to come back later." Roy wondered what Fullmetal had wanted him for this time. A military coup? Demolishing an entire city? Couldn't the boy stay out of trouble for once in his life?

Apparently not, because the bell rang soon after Roy had sat down to some delicious scrambled eggs, and moments later an agitated Edward Elric stormed into the room with Alphonse in tow. Roy ignored the sense of déjà vu from the day before and fixed a cold stare on Edward.

"The slavers are looking for us," Edward snapped without preamble, giving him a look that implied, 'this is all your fault.' He glared at Alphonse, who had clearly put him up to this, then shuffled his feet and mumbled, "canwestayherewithyou?"

"What was that, Edward? I don't think I could hear you," Roy tried to keep that usual edge of smugness from his voice, but it snuck in anyway and the golden eyes turned outraged.

"You shit bastard, we need a place to stay!" Ed yelled.

"Brother!" Al yelped, dodging in front of him. "Colonel Mus—Müller, sir, please forgive my brother, he—"

Then Ed jumped in front of Al again. "This bastard doesn't matter, Al!" he snarled. "I told you, this is Müller!" He turned back to Roy. "You knew, didn't you? That the slavers wouldn't stop, once they realized that their business wasn't truly going legit. And that they'd come after us."

"Everyone always comes after you, Edward," Roy drawled. "Why should they be any different?" Again, Al shot him an odd look, but Ed's anger obviously overruled any sort of logic process, because the older Elric didn't even blink. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to change the world, as long as you're smart about it."

"And I'm not," Ed said flatly.

"Brother, I'm sure that's not what the Colonel meant—"

And it was so _weird_, hearing himself called "the Colonel" again after he'd lost his rank four years before. It was even weirder having Fullmetal in front of him, swearing and raging and looking _older_, very much older. "You may stay with us," Roy said, cutting off the brotherly argument before it started.

"Now wait a minute!" Hauser grumbled. "It's not really our place to say whether or not they can stay. The couple who owns the hostel doesn't have any empty rooms, you know."

Roy was going to regret this. "They can stay with me."

The explosion was immediate and disheartening. "No fuckin way!" Edward growled, grabbing Al and turning to leave. "If you think I trust you within five _feet_ of my brother—"

"Colonel Müller's just being nice!" Al whined, reminding Roy abruptly that he was still only fourteen years old and much younger than his hotheaded brother.

"He has an agenda! He's always had an agenda!" Ed told him. "You never met him before this, but trust me, he wants to use us!" He shot Roy an even deadlier glare than before and Roy felt a sudden anger building in his stomach. This Müller, what he done to Fullmetal? He hadn't been here to protect him…but that was no longer true, and he would protect Fullmetal from _anyone_\--

_The crowds parted, and a breathtakingly_ familiar _man waltzed out, a malicious grin on his face._

Roy gasped and his eyes blinked the flashback away. To his astonishment, he was staring at the ceiling, and soon Al was helping up. "Are you okay?!" the younger Elric sounded concerned.

"Who the fuck cares?" Edward muttered. "It's probably just a trick—"

"Edward," Roy said sharply, and Ed shut up and stared at him, eyes intense. Roy met his gaze and tried to ignore the shiver running down his spine. "I won't let them hurt you anymore."

"There's no them, there's just you," Edward challenged him.

"I won't hurt you anymore, either," Roy said, and he was determined that it would be true, whether it was himself or Müller he was actually talking about. Ross Müller was still Roy Mustang, in some essential core of his being. Otherwise, it didn't make any sense. Roy gave Edward his most sincere look, but suddenly the younger man's eyes went wild.

"Don't do that," he said in a strangled tone. "Don't look at me like _him_." And then he was out the door. They could hear footsteps stomping upstairs, and Al just looked resigned.

"Colonel," he said politely after a moment had passed. "We'll take you up on your offer, but if brother seriously has a problem with it, I suppose we can find other accommodations…"

"No," Roy said. He would never put the Elrics in an inconvenient situation again. "I can share Hauser and Karl's room, and you two can take mine. It's not a big deal." Al's eyes lit up, and Roy smiled briefly. He'd seen that smile a lot in those two years since Edward had disappeared, but never so bright. Being with his brother had awakened Alphonse in a way that nothing else had.

"Brother may not trust you," Al told him, "but I can tell that you're a good man! We won't put you out of your room though. We'll find a way around it." He turned to leave, but threw one last grin over his shoulder before he was gone.

"You really love those kids, don't you?" Hauser asked from across the table. His eyes held a steady approval, although Roy was sure if he knew how much he loved Edward, that approval would fade drastically. "You'll watch over them, even when they think that you're the man they hate."

Then it occurred to Roy that Hauser and Karl both knew Ross Müller.

"What is Müller like?" he asked quietly, going back to his breakfast. Hauser glanced at his feet for a moment, then looked up.

"Ross Müller is competent, thorough, and charming," he said. "He's smart and ambitious, and always knows the right things to say to everyone to make them like him. He has…ambitions…to be elected Chancellor, but it's unlikely those will ever come to fruit due to his position in the military and his unwillingness to ally himself with any one political party."

Roy rephrased his question, since at the moment Ross Müller sounded remarkably similar to himself. "What makes him _different_ from me?"

Karl glanced at Hauser quickly, but Roy's sharp eyes caught the movement. Hauser paused momentarily, obviously weighing up the loyalty to a man whom he didn't know very well versus his alter ego, and eventually coming to a decision.

"He's ruthless," he told him. "Utterly unafraid of anyone. Willing to do anything to achieve his goals. Where you show compassion, he would have shown apathy. I wasn't aware that he knew Edward Elric, but it doesn't surprise me at all that Edward doesn't like him." His face clouded. "But despite that, I feel as though he's a good man who got thrown onto the wrong path. I _like_ him. The couple times we've gone out drinking, he's treated me as an equal instead of as a simple sailor, and that's not something you see much in the military."

"He didn't want to use you," Roy murmured. Roy had been ruthless too, once, long ago. He'd been willing to sacrifice anything to see the world change – and then it had, and he had lost everything, and suddenly, the sacrifice hadn't seemed worth it. The world was still filled with wars and violence and hatred, and Roy Mustang was stuck in a position where all he could do was sit and watch other people pull the puppet's strings.

Was it any wonder he'd wanted Fullmetal back? Edward had always made him feel alive.

If Müller was Roy, and Roy was Müller…where did one end and the other begin? How much of Müller's ruthlessness was still in Roy, and how much of Roy's compassion existed within Müller? Ishbal had taught him compassion, and strength, and given him the will to change the world. This world had its own Great War, occurring at around the same time as the Ishbal war. From what Liza had told him, Müller had been in the Great War. Had their experiences been different enough to change the outcome of their lives?

_"Hello, Mustang," the smug voice purred. "Time to wake up."_

The dream was fragmented, the memories odd, but he knew the malicious look in the man's eyes – they were the same as his own, after all.

"Is Müller going to be my enemy?" he asked Hauser and Karl.

Silence was his only answer, but then, he hadn't truly been expecting any other.

\--------------------

He returned upstairs to discover that Ed and Al had laid their packs out in his room. Ed was grumpily eating an apple and Al was smiling and chattering on about something, but both the conversation and the eating stopped the moment he stepped in the room.

"I'll just gather my things, and then you two can settle in—" he began, but Edward cut him off.

"Forget it," he said magnanimously, the maturity in his attitude surprising Roy, although he _was_ nineteen now. "It's not fair for us to put you out of your room. Just…don't fuck with me, okay?"

Oh, the mental images that statement had produced. Roy had become damned good at hiding his emotions, but he still felt a slight flush in his cheeks as he turned away from that golden scowl. "Don't worry. I have no intention of doing so."

"Al convinced me that you've changed." Edward had always hated admitting that he was wrong. "I don't know if that's true," he said sharply, "but if it is, you deserve a chance. For _his_ sake." Roy felt his heart lift, as it had every time Edward had referenced himself. There was something there, then. Edward…felt something for him? Even if deep respect was all that Roy had evidence of, it was more than he'd been expecting, and he felt…warm with it, sleepy.

Of course, once Edward found out that he wasn't Müller, he was going to lose all the respect he'd earned. But somehow, he wondered if maybe it would be worth it, just to have had the opportunity to glance this side of Edward's feelings towards him.

The rest of that day was essentially uneventful. Roy and Hauser went out shopping to stock up for the train ride home, and Karl stayed behind to "hold down the fort" – and keep an eye on the Elrics. Roy had returned to find his room utterly invaded, with clothes strewn all over the place from where Ed (he assumed it was Ed, as Al seemed too neat) had tried to find something in his bags and obviously failed miserably. Roy took a moment to inspect the tailored suits and smiled, remember how strange Ed's clothes had looked when he'd appeared so briefly two years before…and how good Ed had looked in them. That small smile he'd given Roy, just before he'd disappeared into this world forever…

He'd never had any intention of coming back. But he also hadn't intended for Al to share his fate, and now they were both trapped in this strange world, that held people familiar and yet not.

Roy had just finished folding the clothes and placing them back on top of the makeshift mattresses that the British couple had found when Edward burst into the room at top speed. He paused mid run, spotting Roy, and stared at him in astonishment.

"You folded my clothes!"

"The room was a mess," Roy told him smoothly. "I could hardly be expected to function with your things everywhere, now could I, Edward?" He missed calling him Fullmetal and watching those cheeks heat up, but he supposed this was the next best thing.

"Sorry," Edward told him sullenly, not sounding very sorry at all. "I was looking for our passports." He perched himself on the bed as if he owned the place and threw Roy a challenging grin that the older man easily ignored. "Well, you bastard, don't you want to know if I've figured it out yet?"

"Figured what out?" Roy asked nervously. If Edward found out that he was Roy Mustang…it would be both a relief and an annoyance. The Gate would probably stage a fit, but at least there would be no more of this lying. It'd only been two days, but Roy was sick of it. Off-topic, he wondered where Al had wandered off to.

"How to do alchemy in this world. Don't pretend you're not interested," and Roy was interested, although probably not for the same reasons as Müller, "I can see it in your eyes and plus, you assigned me to this task. Well, I can't do alchemy here and I don't think I ever will be able to, so you take this back to your stupid superiors and tell them to close the file on my father's death. It had nothing to do with alchemy and everything to do with my older brother having daddy issues."

Roy's mind stopped for a minute. Edward had an _older brother_ too? Dear God, how many Elrics _were there_?

"The alchemy that opened the gate and allowed the Nazi scientists through was a fluke, and it can't happen again. You hear me, Müller? _It can't happen again._" But Roy had been dealing with Fullmetal for years before his disappearance and could read that face nearly as well as his brother could, and it was obvious that Ed wasn't telling the truth.

"But you know a way to return to your world," he stated. The Gate was hissing inside his mind, but apparently it felt that as long as he didn't reveal himself as Roy Mustang, Edward wouldn't be tempted to actually perform the alchemy they were discussing. Edward eyed him warily, better at guarding his emotions – and somewhat better at controlling his temper – at nineteen than at fifteen, but Roy could tell he was nervous and scared. "How did they threaten Alphonse?" he asked softly, forgetting for a moment that he was Müller. This apparently pissed Edward off.

"_You_, you shit, not _they_. _You_ threatened my brother and you said that if I didn't discover the secret behind using alchemy in this world, you'd reveal to everyone that my brother was a biological clone of Alfons Heiderich and then he'd spend the rest of his life in a lab somewhere. You _knew my weakness_ and you exploited it, just like you would any other pawn in your little game. Damn it, Müller, I would have worked with you!" As Edward ranted, Roy was beginning to see what had passed since Alphonse had stowed away and he felt a deep anger towards Ross Müller for daring to use the bond between the brothers to his own ends.

But he had to know. "Because I looked like _him_?" he asked in an arched voice.

Ed's voice became strangled. "I told you never to talk about him. How _dare_ you." He jumped off the bed, walked over to where Roy lounged against the wall, and got in his face the best he could, considering that Roy was a good five inches taller. "You'll _never_ be the man he was. You're just a shitty colonel with a stick shoved up your ass. But Mustang, he was the real thing. If anybody could rise to the top, it'd be _him_."

And then Roy couldn't take it anymore, because Edward was nineteen and angry and _right there_, and before the boy could continue to make this deception so very hard for him, he leaned down and kissed him thoroughly.

Ed pulled away instantly, angrier than ever.

"You shouldn't have done that," he hissed, shoving away from Roy and stalking towards the door. "You bastard." And then he left.

Damn Müller to hell, Roy thought.


	6. Chapter 6

Roy woke the next morning with a crick in his back from sleeping on Hauser and Karl's floor. The other two were still sleeping comfortably on their twin beds, and dawn light was just vaguely streaming in the window.

He groaned and went back to sleep.

The next time he woke, Hauser was shaking him. "Mustang!" he said fiercely, "our train leaves in two hours. It's time to get going!"

Well, finally.

Edward wouldn't meet his eyes on the walk to the train station, nor when they actually rested inside. Alphonse talked to all of them as if nothing was wrong, but the tension was still there and almost tangible in its intensity. Once Edward got on that train, Roy declared to himself, he was going to tell him who he was. Then Edward would no longer be as frustrated, and although Roy might end up dead, it would be perhaps be worth it not to see that hatred in his eyes anymore.

The train pulled up and they all stepped on, surprised at how empty it was.

"Few travelers get this far south," Hauser told Roy as they stowed their bags. "Most Europeans go to Egypt or other 'tamer' places. This deep in the Middle East, only those with a true purpose dare to visit." Soon, other passengers boarded, all heading north, but Roy and his party were the only Europeans, and remembering the riot from two days earlier, he felt uneasy and wished for his gloves.

It took him a moment to realize that Edward was making vague clapping motions with his hands because he, too, felt vulnerable here.

"Müller!" he said suddenly, the first words he'd spoken to him since their disastrous kiss. "This is what happens when you try to oppress people who aren't like you. You should remember this. They become unhappy. The Europeans have trespassed in a world that's not theirs, and the people of this land are fighting it." He sniffed and looked out the window. "Germany could soon become the same way."

"Edward," Roy said, gazing at him thoughtfully. "I'm…"

\--not Müller, he wanted to say, but then that gold gaze fixed on him again and even though the Gate would let him tell, now that they were moving out of the station and on their way…he couldn't. He couldn't tell Edward that he'd lied to him, tricked him, after he'd only wanted him to trust him. Roy Mustang was not a coward, but he'd seen enough pain in Edward's eyes to want to spare him this small bit more, at least for a couple more days.

He would tell him when they got on the boat to cross the sea.

\--------------------

He didn't tell him on the boat.

As they crossed over the waters, Roy leaned over the railing and watched the sea spray up at the sides. Fullmetal was perched a close distance away, pointing something out to Al with a delighted look on his face that Roy hadn't witnessed much since he'd found the boys, and he was so happy that they had finally found happiness and acceptance in their lives that he really couldn't bring himself to turn Edward's world back upside down.

Maybe he was giving himself too much credit and Edward could care less if he was Müller or Mustang.

Maybe he was fooling himself. Once a lie has been told, it can be hard to tell the truth.

He also didn't tell him on the next two trains that they were forced to connect to. Three long weeks had passed with barely any communication at all. Roy, like on the way there, had spent most of the time reading and dozing. While he slept, Alphonse had taken the Germany history book from the floor where it had fallen and paged through it with a thoughtful smile, but had returned it before Roy woke up. Hauser and Karl were careful not to slip with Roy's true identity while Edward was around, but often enough Ed and Al wandered off to find food or sit in a lounge car down the train a bit, and then Roy and Hauser and Karl would discuss what to do once they got back to Munich.

"We'll have to reunite him with Franz," Hauser said, not sounding pleased about the arrangement. "The man's impossible but he knew the Professor the best. Between the Professor's teachings and Edward's knowledge, it's your best bet at returning to your home." Hauser was gruffer these days, obviously upset at Roy's deception.

"I don't know if I can return home," Roy said quietly, glancing out at the flashing countryside.

"If anyone can return you, it's Edward Elric," Karl told him proudly. "They say that he's his father's son. That he can do _anything_."

"It's a shame the Professor is dead," Hauser's voice turned sad. "He would have been a great help in your project. He alone truly understood the implications of a parallel universe so close to our own. I've always been of the mind that delving further into such research could ruin the balance between worlds, but Müller…" he trailed off.

"Müller?" Roy prodded, curious.

"Müller believes we have a great, shining destiny ahead of us. He believes that by forming an alliance with the people in the other world, we can realize that destiny for the German people." Hauser was skeptical, but his voice was strong and proud, and Roy could tell that in some ways, he agreed with Müller. The proud man, so wary of German nationalism, was still willing to believe in the plans of a man like Müller. What did that say?

Roy remembered a blonde woman, spouting the same ideals at Edward and then screaming about how they were monsters. The invaders from beyond the Gate hadn't had any intentions of forming alliances, only of conquering and destroying. Did that make Müller's ideals any different from theirs? He still wanted to possess the power from beyond the Gate.

No wonder Edward was wary of the man.

"The two worlds should stay separate," Roy told them both. "For the good of everyone."

"Germany is headed towards war," Karl said stiffly. "Müller promises to find the strength that we need in your world. If we don't intend to hurt anyone, but form an alliance of strength to help everyone, is there truly any harm in that?"

Idealists were the most dangerous people of all, Roy thought. He himself had been one until the day he'd killed King Bradley and Fullmetal had disappeared forever. He still firmly believed that the world could be changed, but sometimes one had to sacrifice a dream for the greater good.

He closed his eyes. To think he could have been Fuhrer right at that moment. It was a heady, dangerous thought.

"The worlds are meant to say apart," Roy stayed firm. "Why do you think we share faces and souls? What sort of balance would be destroyed if I ever met Müller? If you ever met Fury and Havoc?" He sighed and leaned his head back. "Let's hope we never find out."

Hauser and Karl glanced at each other, for Roy had never talked about their alter selves before, but before they could ask what they were like in the world beyond their own, their visitor from Amestris had returned to his book and looked uninterested in answering any further questions.

\--------------------

Roy should have told Edward the truth. He finally admitted that he didn't want to face Fullmetal's temper, and reasoned that telling him once they reached Munich would be a much better course of action, since then they wouldn't be trapped in such close quarters with one another. Edward was guaranteed to take the news badly, and it threw Roy's survival instincts into a panic. It didn't even matter that he hadn't been purposefully manipulating Fullmetal – Edward would see it that way, and Edward was all that mattered.

When the train crossed the German border, the officials checking passports inspected them all with the same cursory glances until they reached Roy. They took Müller's passport from him and looked back and forth anxiously.

"Er," the younger one said. "C-Colonel Müller, sir! Welcome back!"

"If you'll excuse us for a few moments, we need to check some things," the taller, older soldier told Roy. He neatly slid the passport into his pocket before they exited, and Roy began to sweat. He wasn't Müller, and although they'd accorded him the traditional military gestures, he couldn't help but feel that they'd known he was an imposter.

"Dissention in the ranks?" Edward asked with a lazy smirk, half focused on his book.

"Just a routine check," Roy replied stiffly.

But they returned the passport, smiling, a few moments later. Roy's eyes narrowed but he took it back and put it back in his bag, smiling smoothly.

"I hope there wasn't a problem, gentlemen?" he asked.

"No problem, sir!" the younger soldier replied. "Just a routine check of all military IDs under the guidelines set up by the Treaty. Your paperwork's all in order, so you're all set!" He flushed slightly under Roy's intense gaze and Edward snapped,

"Stop pressuring him, you shit colonel. Everything's fine."

"I can see that. It's comforting to see young, eager soldiers like yourselves being so thorough. Our country is in good hands." Roy had long ago memorized all the things politicians would need to say to gain favor in the military. Although the military and the faces were different, the psychology was not. Soldiers were still soldiers, and Colonel Mustang had always known what to say to inspire people.

He wondered if Müller had his gift.

Maybe that's why Edward was staring at him like he'd grown a third head. After the soldiers had moved on, he spoke, in the familiar disgusted tone he'd used so often when conversing with "Müller". "You've never been quite so good at the 'charm' thing before this. Did it grow on you while we were away?" he sneered.

"Why Edward, I had no idea you noticed my charm," Roy responded, secretly pleased. "I was simply being nice to the soldiers for a job well done. Surely there's nothing underhanded about that?"

"You're a manipulative bastard," Edward told him.

"Simply for being nice? Edward, surely—"

"Don't sound so condescending!" Edward growled. "You're barely ten years older than me, you shit, although it does look like you've aged drastically." Roy's jaw nearly dropped. Müller was _younger_ than he was? But if he was his alter self…how was that possible? "I'm nineteen and an adult, I don't need you acting _caring_. Or like my father. I had a father, remember him? Your mentor?" He was angry now, but not the sort of explosive anger that had filled him when he was fifteen, and a few "Brother!"s quickly calmed him back down.

"I'm genuinely sorry that I hurt you," Roy told Edward, as honest as he could be considering he was lying to him about _everything_.

"No you're not," Ed mumbled, standing up. "Al, let's go get some food." The two walked off, Al trailing slightly behind his brother like he always had, and Roy felt a deep sadness. Their reunion wasn't supposed to be like this. He wasn't supposed to make Edward uncertain and afraid; he wasn't supposed to be _Müller_ (because that was the biggest problem of all).

He leaned against the window and watched the drab buildings rush by until he fell asleep.

\--------------------

They were a day out of Munich when Edward cornered him by the bathrooms.

"I hate you," he growled. "I hate that you have his face and I hate that you're manipulative and evil and controlling. I hate that you have no honor and I hate what you threatened me with."

I should tell him now, Roy thought. I should stop this.

But all he could really do was stare.

"Someday when you least expect it, I'm going to destroy you," Edward threatened, and then he stepped closer and there was no logical reason why Roy shouldn't be able to breathe, but he couldn't and then Edward slammed him up against the wall and said, "destroy you utterly," before letting him go, stalking back the way he came.

Roy stared after him and cursed the Gate.

He spent the last twenty four hours of his great traveling adventure alternately sleeping and discussing current German politics with Hauser, who was always happy to offer his opinion. When the man had finally finished ranting about the close-minded idiocy that had been slowly and insidiously invading his country, Roy had switched to a different topic.

"Do you miss Liza?"

Hauser had quickly blushed and looked away, but Roy smiled. Riza's alter self was in good hands.

And then, before he knew it, they were pulling into the main station at Munich. Hauser was quickly unloading their bags and Karl was fretting about catching a cab from the station and how they would all fit. Ed and Al were back with the other three, and Edward was belatedly shoving random things into his bag, like he had every single time they'd left a train before. Alphonse fussed and helped him check the seats to be sure that no book had fallen through.

"It's my history on alchemy in this world, Al. I need that!" Roy could hear Ed exclaiming.

"Brother! Look, it's right here until all your other books. You need to pack better!" Al lectured, and if it hadn't been for the strange German or the lack of hollowness in Al's tone, Roy could have closed his eyes and imagined himself back in Central four years ago, listening to the brothers bicker.

"I suppose Liza and I can put the boys up as well," Hauser was telling Karl to placate him. "You know we didn't really think that far ahead. The most important thing is letting Edward in to see Hohenheim's notes."

"As well?" Edward caught, peeking up at them. "Who else is staying with you, Mr. Hauser?"

"I am," Roy offered before Hauser could answer.

"What, your posh apartment isn't good enough anymore?" Edward sneered. "I guess you would feel kind of lonely, with all of those sculptures and weird paintings. You have shit sense of aesthetics," he told him.

"Edward, it takes a true scholar—"

Eager to break up a pending fight, Al cut in. "Brother, Colonel…we should probably get off the train," he told them, glancing back and forth between them.

"You're right, Al," Ed said sullenly. He gave one last glare to Roy before storming off the train ahead of them, Al right behind him. Roy sighed, hefted his bag into the aisle, and followed the brothers, stepping off the train into the bleak Munich station. From what he could see, the sky was grey with clouds. Hauser and Karl stepped off the train behind him and they all walked forward to the edge of the platform. It was early morning and the train station was relatively empty, save for the passengers disembarking from their same train.

"Well, let's get going!" Ed told them. "The sooner we get to Hauser's house, the sooner we can get to the university and decipher my old man's writings."

"I'll help," Al added. "I know you just came looking for my brother but I know almost as much about alchemy as he does!" The younger Elric had ridiculously wide eyes, and Hauser and Karl smiled despite themselves.

"Of course, Alphonse," Roy replied smoothly, resisting the urge to smile himself. "Whatever—"

A figure detached itself from the shadows in front of them.

"Would anyone care to explain what _exactly_ is going on here?" Ross Müller asked in a chilling version of Roy's 'charming' voice. He was about to say more, then he spotted Roy and froze.

For a moment there was silence.

Then Edward turned to Roy and just _stared_.


	7. Chapter 7

The silence was long and tense, with Edward's wide, gold eyes latched painfully onto his profile, but Roy refused to turn and look at him. He looked straight ahead, met an identical pair of black eyes that seemed sharp like flint. Müller stared back and was at a loss for words, which Roy assumed was extremely uncharacteristic for such a man.

"You…you're…" Edward said in a choking voice, and Roy could feel his heart beating in his chest as he turned and met that golden gaze.

Müller shook his head and turned to focus on the smaller man, standing next to Roy with Al close behind him. "Edward Elric. You're back in Munich at last." With that statement, both Hauser and Karl got out of shock and attempted to explain.

"C-Colonel Müller—"

"Ross, listen, I can explain—"

But Müller wasn't going to listen to either of them. He strode up to where Roy was standing, proudly, and peered right into his face.

"An amazing likeness," he murmured with a smirk, "but I'm not nearly as old looking." He turned and glared at Hauser. "I assume this is why you copied my passport. I can overlook your lack of discretion on this matter for one reason – you brought back Edward Elric." He then turned to Edward himself. "It's been awhile."

"M-Müller," Edward stuttered. "You're _Müller_."

"Who else would I be?" Müller looked amused and vaguely bored with the conversation. "Unless you mistook me for this…clone."

Edward turned, eyes wild, and stared at Roy again. "Then you…you can't be…you…"

Roy continued to meet that dark gaze head on, not sure what to think of this man who wore his face. "I'm not a clone," he said at last.

"I don't have a twin brother," Müller replied evenly. "I hope you have a better story than _that_." His eyes were smug, and he had the feel of a man who was used to running roughshod over his opponents in arguments. Ross Müller was smart, handsome, and charming. He was used to having all three in greater amounts than his opponents, and it was obvious in the way he carried himself.

Roy allowed a smirk to get through his mask.

Müller started, seeing one of his own tactics used. "Who is he? Hauser!" he commanded, and the blond man stepped forward to respond, but Roy waved him back.

"I can answer for myself," he replied. Beside him, Edward's breath caught audibly and Al, who'd been smart enough to stay out of the conversation so far, put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I'm you."

Müller blinked, unsettled. "Impossible. There's only one Ross Müller."

"It can't be…" Edward breathed, and his tone of voice sent shivers up Roy's spine.

"That's not precisely true," Roy said, adopting his 'condescending' tone that Edward hated so much. "Here in this world, yes, there is indeed only one of you. However, I happen to know of your ambitions to cross into another world, and in that world, another man wears your face."

"Roy Mustang," Edward snapped. "You _fucking bastard_."

"Language, Fullmetal," Roy muttered off-handedly and Edward's jaw dropped.

"You really are—"

"You're me," Müller stated, cutting Edward off. "You've come from the _other world_ and you're _me_." His eyes briefly had the sheen of a kid in a candy store before he locked his feelings back behind that familiar mask.

"You lied to me!" Edward practically howled, finally coming to his senses enough to be pissed off. "I can't believe you _lied to me_, you shit Colonel! I thought you were…you were _him_!" and he pointed angrily at Müller. "You let me believe that you weren't…you let me say…you…"

"Brother," Al's calming voice said. "Let's take a walk." And since, even at fourteen, he was still taller than his older brother, he managed to drag Edward off while he was still sputtering. Roy let his eyes leave Müller's for a brief instant to watch Edward get dragged away, and those golden eyes, so accusing, stared back.

"You told Edward Elric that you were me?" Müller said in the amused tone that Roy himself had used on Fullmetal countless times.

"It was the safest route to take," Roy replied in the same time.

"I thought it was odd when my officers reported that someone was using my passport. Clever of you, Jakob, to snatch it and copy it. But I really must know…other me, what are you doing here?" His eyes narrowed maliciously and Roy knew it was one expression that had never appeared on his own face. There was no way he took such sadistic glee in putting pressure on others, manipulating them.

"My name," Roy said firmly, "is Roy Mustang. And I was looking for Edward Elric."

"You seem to have found him," his doppelganger pointed out. "Do you plan to return to your world now? Leave ours on the brink of war?"

"We were never meant to be in this world," Roy told him.

"Nonsense," Müller snapped. "It's your destiny to be here. It's mine to meet you. Roy Mustang…we are the same. Together we could be great." Roy felt a shiver go down his spine, because it was true, because together, he and Müller would be unstoppable. If they went back through the gate to Amestris, they would both have the same alchemical talent, the same strengths, the same ability to manipulate the unwilling. Together they could…

Suddenly, he felt sick. What was he _thinking_? He had sworn an oath to the people of Amestris, that he would protect them from any dangers, and he knew deep in his heart that Müller was a far worse danger to Amestris than the invaders from beyond the Gate two years previous. He was a whole different breed of man; a politician, a charmer, and worse yet…he was Roy Mustang.  
"I'm afraid I won't be working with you, Ross Müller," Roy told him. Al and Edward were already done with their circle of the station and were rapidly approaching the group again. Roy wouldn't meet Edward's gaze, not wanting to see the hatred in his eyes. Then he watched in astonishment as Edward looked instead to Müller, eyebrows knitted with determination, before he firmly stepped back to his proud place at Roy's side.

"Fullmetal…" he murmured, not meaning to speak it out loud. He was like an angry spitting cat, glaring at Müller, because Müller was dangerous.

"You're not out of this, you shit," Edward growled, then shouted, "Müller, you shithead. Couldn't you have let us settle in before you dropped a fucking bomb on us?"

"Did you find the Uranium bomb?" Müller asked, that familiar smirk returning. The sadistic look was gone, replaced by a charming, friendly mask.

"I wouldn't tell you even if we had," Ed shot back.

"Brother! Be polite to the colonel!" Al yelped, then looked at Roy. "Are you still a corporal?"

"Major," Roy told the younger Elric, surprised that he remembered that much about a man he'd seen very briefly in the two years between Ed's disappearance and the invasion. "I received a promotion for my assistance in halting the invasion from beyond the Gate."

Müller had a one-track mind, it seemed. "Did you accomplish _any_ of the things I sent you out to do, two years ago?" he asked with exasperation in his tone. Roy would have sympathized if he hadn't seen Edward's anger towards the man and remembered the sadistic look on Müller's face earlier.

"Shit, no. After you threatened Al like that, the last thing I was going to do was come back to Munich." Edward glared at Hauser now. "Can we go? I don't want to talk to this asshole." Without receiving an answer, he grabbed Al's arm and stalked angrily towards the exit.

"Why don't you stop by for dinner tonight?" Hauser suggested politely to Müller. "I'm sure Liza would love to see you again, and Franz should be around as well. The house will be kind of full, but I'm sure we can squeeze you in."

"I have to be getting back anyway," Müller replied shortly. "But I will be by tonight. Don't think you're doing any research into the parallel universe without my help. The Professor chose me to be in charge of the project."

"Don't worry," Karl said in a placating manner. "Everyone is too tired from the trip to do much research for the next couple days anyway." Then he and Hauser both gave Müller a crisp salute, which the man returned before leaving the same way that Edward had a few moments earlier.

Edward and Al had flagged them two cabs by the time the rest of the party got outside, and Müller was nowhere to be found. Roy wisely elected to ride in the cab that Edward wasn't in, not in the mood for an argument when he had so much to think on.

Something about Müller had unsettled him.

\--------------------

He was back in the drab little room at the corner of Hauser and Liza's house, sitting on the lumpy mattress and staring at where it had all began. He felt weary and tired, and vaguely wondered if he was truly getting old at the ancient age of thirty-three. He'd never felt old before, but dealing with Edward made him feel like he was being pulled in so many different directions – protect, love, _throttle_ – that he'd felt exhausted by the time they'd arrived back at the townhouse and quickly escaped into 'his' room. Liza had changed the sheets and hung up some pictures since he'd last been there, probably foreseeing that he would be a visitor for awhile, and he smiled at the thought of his own Riza Hawkeye hanging pictures and doing the domestic things that Liza seemed to enjoy. They shared the same face, but they were so different…

Just like him and Ross Müller. Which reminded him that Müller was coming for dinner, which reminded him that he'd have to deal with the odd buzzing sensation in his head again and furthermore, he'd have to deal with Edward, who he hadn't spoken to since that scene at the train station.

The closet had been cleaned out and he hung up the set of Hauser's suits that Liza had gifted him with, still feeling strange for wearing another man's clothes. If he was there much longer, he'd have to go out and buy some of his own. If he was there any longer…his hope of seeing Amestris again was diminishing, and even the presence of Edward hadn't really done much to help the homesickness that flared up occasionally, especially now that he was able to rest by himself for the first time in nearly a month.

He was so busy watching the street from the window while deep in thought that he didn't hear the door open.

"What happened to that ugly eye patch?" a familiar voice asked, and he whirled quickly to find Edward Elric scowling uncomfortably in the doorway.

"The Gate gave my eye back," he said carefully. He wasn't in the mood for this inevitable conversation, especially the beating that Edward was probably going to give him. He just wanted to go home, forget he'd ever discovered Germany, and not have to deal with Edward, or Müller, or politics.

No, he amended. For better or for worse, he always wanted to deal with Edward.

"You performed human transmutation," Edward breathed. "You stupid bastard." But he wasn't yelling or taking Roy's head off, and when he calmly seated himself on the bed, Roy realized that Fullmetal had truly grown up. "Why did you let me believe that you were Ross Müller?" he asked dangerously.

"I did what I had to. You're needed here. It was better if you believed that I was Müller in order to accomplish that." The excuse sounded flimsy even to Roy's own ears, but Edward seemed to accept it as just another example of his manipulation. The younger man looked at the floor and sighed noisily.

"Why did you even come here?" he asked, frustration evident in his voice. "This is not a good place to be. There's going to be another war, a war with destruction beyond our imagining. I've _seen_ it. Those deaths…and the ones that came before, and after…the deaths of people in this world are what fuel our alchemy." Death…fueled alchemy…?

Roy felt sick.

"That can't be true," he insisted, although why he was less cynical and jaded at thirty three than a boy of nineteen, he had no idea.

"It is true. For that matter, even if you did perform human transmutation…how is it that you're here? How are there two of you? When I went through the Gate while my alter self was still alive, I woke up in his body." Edward seemed determined to interrogate him until he was satisfied, but Roy honestly didn't have any answers for him. "You should have woken up in Müller's body…but you both exist in the same universe. How is that possible?"

"I don't know," he admitted, but Ed was in scientist mode now and had leapt off the bed, pacing restlessly in front of the closet.

"I don't know enough about dimensions and parallel worlds to know what having two of the same person in the same universe can do…" he muttered. "But what if you and Müller coexisting has created a paradox? What if the energy we use for alchemy comes from sources other than just death? The old man," (Roy presumed Edward was speaking of his father), "said that the mass destruction and chaos would feed Amestrian alchemy for years to come, but what if it's also the sheer energy of life from this world? You've seen how different everyone is! Müller's a fucking bastard."

Finally, Roy could ask the question that had been on his mind for weeks.

"What did he do to you?" he asked quietly, and winced as Edward slammed his automail arm into the closet door. The dent was large and Liza was going to be pissed, but the look on Edward's face quickly erased all those worries from Roy's head.

"He threatened my brother," Edward growled. "We'd just gotten back, and the old man was dead and his research team was creating one chaotic situation after another with their attempts to decipher his journals and reopen the Gate. I still don't know why they wanted to harness the power of the Gate, after the mistakes that that blonde bitch made. You'd think they'd have learned." Roy had missed those angry gold eyes, but that didn't mean he was going to excuse the man who'd caused that pain. "When he met Al, he put two and two together, figured out that he'd followed me from Amestris, and…and he told me if I didn't want the research team to get their hands on Al, I'd better do exactly as he said."

Roy clenched a fist but said nothing.

Edward rested his forehead against the wooden closet door and continued. "At the time, the researchers had been hypothesizing about using human sacrifice to create energy and reopen the Gate. You can imagine how terrified I was that they would get their hands on Al, and you must know how I felt. We're powerless in this world, Mustang. We're only human now. I still know how to fight and I do it well, but without my alchemy I'm just another man. I can't protect my brother against someone like Müller and neither of us have the skills to go against a government organization."

"I've wished for my gloves a few times since I've been here," Roy admitted.

"Yeah, see? You have the same problem. We've always relied on our alchemy to do the fighting for us, and once we're stripped of that, there's nothing left except our own mortality." He sighed. "Why do all of my conversations with you always turn out so fuckin' depressing?"

"I wasn't aware we'd had enough conversations recently to categorize them at all, Fullmetal," Roy replied smoothly, expecting anger or frustration, anything but a small smile.

"Pretentious bastard," Edward quipped. "You never answered _my_ question. Why are you here?" He finally looked up and leveled those piercing eyes on Roy, who swallowed hard.

"I…was trying to bring you and Alphonse back to Amestris," he confessed, and Edward scowled furiously and smacked the door again, although this time it didn't dent.

"You idiot! You performed human transmutation just to bring us back?! You've really turned into a pathetic bastard, haven't you? I would have thought you'd be Fuhrer right now, with a blonde trophy wife on your arm and all the female military officers in miniskirts sauntering through your office. Instead you sacrificed all of that for _us_?!"

"Fullmetal," Roy began. "You seem to be laboring under delusions. I will never be Fuhrer. I was demoted to corporal after the incident with King Bradley, and after the invasion two years ago they promoted me up to major, with the understanding that I would never be allowed to advance any further due to my ambitions. Furthermore, there's no blonde trophy wife, no miniskirts, _nothing_. Don't be angry with me for sacrificing my perfect life when I had nothing to lose!"

Ed was staring at him, open-mouthed. "Al never told me."

"Alphonse never showed much interest in military politics. I assume my demotion might have escaped his notice, since we had no history and saw each other rarely." Roy shrugged. "It probably slipped his mind that it would be significant."

"Why do you always talk to me like a pompous asshole?" Edward demanded.

"It's a gift," Roy told him, and to his astonishment, Ed looked the other way with a strange flush on his cheeks. Was Edward Elric _blushing_? "Fullmetal, are you blushing?" he asked.

"NO!" Edward exclaimed, but the flush deepened and Roy grinned, bemused.

"I didn't even say anything worth blushing over, Edward," Roy baited him, but then Edward turned violently and slammed his palms on the bed, getting nose to nose with him.

"Why did you kiss me?" he demanded.

Roy faltered, and did the only thing he could think of to save face in such a situation. "When?"

"Both times!" Ed growled. "Four years ago! Or in Jordan, why does it matter? You _kissed me_. Mustang, I'm a _man_," he announced as though Roy had missed that fact somehow. Roy just smiled smugly, even though his insides were churning like none other. Edward's proximity wasn't helping.

"I am aware," he said pompously.

"Why did you kiss me?!" Edward pressed. "You…you …"

Roy didn't know what to say, so instead he leaned in a few inches and kissed him again. Edward's lips were warm and soft and parted for a moment under his touch before the younger man pulled away violently.

"You did it again!" he accused, like Roy hadn't been aware of this.

"Yes, Fullmetal," Roy said.

"_Why_?! Why did you come here, why did you try to bring Al and I back? Why are you trapped here? Why are you _kissing_ me?" Edward clutched his head while somehow managing to keep Roy pinned with a glare. "You're making my head hurt!"

"Now you know how I felt, all those years ago," Roy muttered.

"Shut up," Ed growled. "You were kissing me then, too, you damn pervert."

Roy flushed hot red, although he was skilled at hiding his embarrassment. "You've always been…difficult," he hazarded.

"You kissed me because I'm difficult?" Ed demanded.

"Edward, you…"

The front door chime echoed loudly through the room and Edward froze with wide eyes, thinly disguising his fear. "Müller," he hissed, and turned to leave the room. Roy put a hand on his shoulder and stopped him.

"I won't let him hurt Alphonse," he told him fiercely.

Edward flashed him a cocky grin, despite their uncomfortable distance, and Roy immediately knew it was fake.

"Neither will I," the blond said, then left the room.

\--------------------

Liza called for dinner ten minutes later and Roy ventured into the main room, where everyone else was already clustered around the large dining table. A delicious-smelling chicken was laid out in the center and Hauser was alternately pouring the wine and glaring at Franz, who simply smiled. Müller had claimed the head of the table as his throne and was currently holding court, discussing theory with Karl and alter-Breda with a pompousness that put Roy to shame. Ed and Al had already ventured downstairs and had seated themselves as far from the head of the table as possible, both nursing large goblets of wine. From the easiness of Al's expression, Roy surmised that the younger brother hadn't been told the extent of Müller's duplicity.

When he seated himself directly across from Müller, at the other end of the table, and directly to the right of Edward, he got a vicious glare from the sulky blond and a challenging look from his own twin.

Liza entered with the rest of the food and placed it on the table, then seated herself in between Hauser and Franz to stall what everyone could tell was an inevitable confrontation.

"So, Roy Mustang," Müller began without preamble. "Did you enjoy pretending to be me?"

"It gave me a satisfaction I'd never thought possible," Roy replied smoothly. "I hear you've been taking good care of Fullmetal during his stay here," he added.

"Edward Elric is an asset to our country," Müller said in a tone that almost hinted at pride. "It would be a shame to let him go to waste."

Beside Roy, Edward took a large gulp of his wine and held his glass out for a refill, ignoring Al's disapproving '_brother_!' Hauser quickly obliged him.

"I'm pleased to know someone like you is looking after him, then," Roy continued. "I'd hate to have to take action because Fullmetal was being mistreated."

"I'm nineteen years old, you assholes," Edward growled.

"And of course that goes for Alphonse, as well," Roy added, pointedly ignoring Edward. "You _are_ looking after him, too. Of course."

"Of course," Müller echoed, dark eyes flickering dangerously. Al was flushing with embarrassment at the attention and Roy smiled warmly at him. "Both Edward and Alphonse are important German citizens."

"Actually, Colonel Müller," Edward pointed out. "I still have British citizenship. I'm not a German citizen at all." He smiled smugly and finally let himself dive into Liza's cooking, devouring half a chicken leg in one bite.

Roy shook his head and smiled. Some things really did never change. Listening to Al fuss over the mess he was making was also eerily familiar, except that the boy's voice no longer had a metallic echo, and Roy was thankful he'd never have to hear that sound again.

Müller took Edward's declaration in stride, but the rest of the table burst into discussion.

"Why, you'll have to remedy that at once!" alter-Breda (damn, Roy still couldn't remember his name) insisted. "There is no country more glorious than Germany!"

"You've certainly lived here long enough," Franz agreed. "You could easily apply for dual citizenship. It's not a good time to be associated with Britain here in Germany, kid. Too many people are unhappy about the outcome of the Treaty." The darkening of Müller's eyes revealed to Roy one such person sat right at their table. Other than that, though, the man gave very little away. Considering he was a great deal younger, his skills at masking his feelings and manipulating other people were almost at Roy's level, and he found that slightly terrifying.

"Let the boy stay British," Hauser disagreed loudly. "He's allowed to be proud of his heritage. Anyway, we all know he's not even really from this world at all." He glanced around crossly, as if daring someone to disagree.

"So this Amestrist," Karl asked calmly. "Would you say it's more like England or Germany?"

"Amestris," Al corrected, then blushed.

"Germany," Edward said reluctantly. "The geography is very similar and the language is almost identical."

"The governments are pretty similar as well," Roy added. "Although I haven't seen enough other countries to truly judge, of course."

"Of course," Müller said with a challenging smile. "No one could expect even the infamous Roy Mustang to understand the whole Earth in a mere two months."

"I wasn't aware that I was infamous," Roy countered. "At the train station, you didn't even seem to know me."

"Oh, Edward talked about you often," Müller said smugly. Roy couldn't help the pleased feeling in the pit of his stomach, especially when he saw Ed's cheeks flush again despite himself. Fullmetal had talked about him! That almost implied that Fullmetal cared. "He stressed much of your competence."

"I'm flattered," Roy breathed, locking eyes with Edward, who held his gaze for one long moment before looking off to the side.

"Don't take it personally," Edward muttered. "Compared to this guy, anyone's an angel."

"Why, Fullmetal," Roy purred. "I didn't realize that you thought of me as an angel."

"Shut up," Edward snapped, and gulped down his second glass of wine.

Dinner passed without incident after that, Müller having grown bored of the exchange. Roy watched him warily, but the man had perfected the art of charm, and in the end, it was extremely hard not to trust someone who was so very much _him_. Ross Müller told jokes with Liza and Hauser, made a comment that made Karl blush, made toasts with Franz and the alter-Breda. In the end, it seemed that only Edward (and Alphonse, who had followed his brother's lead in this social situation) truly didn't like the man.

Ross Müller was still dangerous, though, like a cat, and the buzzing in Roy's head was beginning to give him a headache, so he stood to excuse himself.

"Not staying for dessert?" Liza asked, concerned.

"I'm afraid I've got a headache," Roy told her, but as he turned to leave, Müller stood too.

"I'd like to talk to you," he said abruptly. Roy nodded and exited, his double behind him, and they walked to the door of the guest room in silence, until Roy finally paused and leaned against the wall.

"You don't like me," Müller began, and when Roy went to deny the accusation automatically, he held up his hand. "Hear me out. I can tell by watching you that you don't trust me, and I've matched wits with enough rivals to recognize subtle barbs when I receive them. What I don't understand is why. Is it that easy, Roy Mustang, to look into a mirror and condemn yourself?"

Roy shivered, but didn't back down from the intimidating black stare. "Maybe it's easier than condemning other people, because I see in you all the qualities I dislike in myself." To his astonishment, Müller broke out into a grin.

"For a moment, I thought you were miffed because I was younger," he chuckled. Roy couldn't help but smile as well, because it _was_ kind of an affront to his vanity to have a younger, handsomer version of himself running around. But the only person whose opinion truly mattered was Edward…and _he_ would never fall for Müller's charms. "Mustang, we'll have to get along in order to bring this project to fruition," Müller added seriously.

"Project?" Roy asked, although of course Müller was smarter than to display his cards on the table.

"You'll find out soon enough," he replied enigmatically, and turned to go back to the dining room.

"But I want you to know one thing," Roy told him. Müller stopped and raised a delicate eyebrow. "I will protect the Elric brothers from any threats. And that includes myself." The other man smiled again.

"Only as one could expect from the great Roy Mustang," he said smoothly before walking away.

Roy let himself into his room and leaned heavily against the door. He still didn't know what he thought of Ross Müller.


	8. Chapter 8

Roy emerged from his room the next morning to find Edward grouchily slouched on the window seat in the living room with no one else in sight. The scowl that had once graced his office so much was written across all Edward's features, and the way that he absentmindedly watched the morning traffic on the street outside told Roy all that he needed to know: his brilliant mind was up to something, as usual.

At first, he thought Edward hadn't noticed him; he didn't look away from the window at all, and after a long moment of watching him, Roy continued his trek to the kitchen. When he was halfway through the living room, Ed spoke.

"Do you want to go back to Amestris?" The voice that came out was smaller than usual, almost vulnerable, and Roy immediately stopped and turned to stare at him. "It's my fault you're here," Edward continued. "Now that you've found us, and you've confirmed that we're safe and sound...do you want to go back?"

Roy thought for a moment before answering. He had always assumed that after he'd located Fullmetal, they'd find a way to return to Amestris, all of them together. After the Gate's cryptic remarks about Edward knowing how to return, however, Roy was suddenly a lot less sure.

"Amestris is my home, Fullmetal," he said softly. He walked over to the sofa across from the window seat and sunk into it, never taking his eyes off of Ed's profile. "So yes, I would eventually like to return to it."

Edward said nothing for a long moment. They coexisted in awkward silence, the dull sounds of the traffic outside contributing a faint background hum. Finally, Ed turned and looked Roy square in the eye.

"We can't go back," he said flatly. His eyes were dull and cold, and Roy was terrified by what he saw in them. "If we could have gone back, I would have taken us there long ago."

"You know how to get home," Roy stated, the Gate curling sluggishly in his mind at the suggestion.

"You know how I wasn't willing to murder people to get the Philosopher's Stone?" Ed asked, a challenge in his eyes. "Well, I'm not willing to murder people to get back to Amestris, either." Roy's face must have been shocked because Ed smirked slightly. "What, you hadn't realized it yet? I thought you were supposed to be crafty, you bastard. Anything that defies the natural laws of alchemy requires the human element in order to succeed." He worried his bottom lip. "Here in this world, there's no way to sacrifice only yourself. The only way to get through the Gate is to sacrifice…others. It's the price to pay for using alchemy in a world where it doesn't exist."

"Does anyone else know?" Roy asked, turning this information over in his brain. He'd already had a vague inkling that this was true. The knowledge was in the back of his mind, like an imprint, and he wondered if the Gate had left it there as he'd passed through. Yet he'd never really considered the true price to getting home before...

"The old man had it all worked out," Ed said crankily, flicking his ponytail with feigned disinterest. "I don't know who had access to his notes before I managed to get my hands on them, but I immediately trashed the parts where human sacrifice was mentioned. The more ambitious shits in this government would have been likely to try it, otherwise." Somehow, Roy knew he was referring to Müller.

"How did they get through the Gate last time?" he continued, although he knew the answer from the Gate's knowledge. The homunculus Envy had died, and the energy from that death had powered the reaction. Ed didn't answer him but instead went back to staring out the window.

"It's why Müller wants the Uranium bomb, you know," he said finally. "It has the power to destroy millions of lives in an instant, but Müller thinks it can power the alchemic reaction to activate the Gate between worlds." Roy shivered. The death of millions?

"Can it?"

"On its own? No. Too scientific, not enough humanity behind it. If it was used to wipe out a city, and the energy from that sacrifice was used?" Edward took a deep breath and purged it, his antenna blowing slightly from the effort. "He could open the Gate a thousand times over."

A chill crept its way up Roy's spine. Müller was him. Slightly different, but still him; there was no way that any version of Roy Mustang would kill millions of people in order to satisfy his own hunger for power. Millions, no, but ten? Twenty? How many lives would it cost to open the Gate just once?

Roy had a feeling that Edward knew. He also had a feeling that if he asked, he would never actually receive an answer.

Years ago, how many lives would _he_ have sacrificed if it could have brought Edward back to him?

"I'm going to grab breakfast, Fullmetal," he said instead, standing up abruptly. "Would you like me to grab you anything?"

Edward gave a harsh laugh. "After that conversation? Jackass, I'm not going to have an appetite for hours. Human sacrifice makes me sick."

Human sacrifice made Roy a little sick too, but he felt that he needed something to distract Fullmetal from the horrible look in his eyes.

"Let's go for a walk," he suggested instead. The warm sunlight was streaming through the window and it looked as though they were in for a lovely early autumn day.

"Can't," Edward mumbled. "I have to wait for Al. He and Liza went to get groceries." He still was having trouble meeting Roy's eyes.

Roy abruptly decided that even if Edward wasn't going to be cooperative, the fresh air would do himself some good, so without any further comment, he went back to his room to change into the clothes provided for him. Liza had gotten several more nicely tailored suits while they were away, and they were all displayed prominently in the guest room closet. Roy selected a navy blue one and dressed quickly, finishing off the look with the matching hat that sat on the coat stand near the door. Glancing at himself in the mirror, he felt that he looked very dashing.

He hoped that Edward felt the same.

Given by the faint red coloring in his cheeks as Roy exited his room once more, Edward did find the ensemble attractive, but he still refused to look at him. "Fullmetal, I'm going out," Roy told him as cheerfully as possible. It was hard to be cheerful when one had just discussed large-scale human sacrifice, but the blush in Edward's cheeks was helping quite a bit.

"Why do I care what you do?" Edward asked, scowling fiercely. "Have fun charming everyone in Germany, you shithead."

"But Edward," Roy purred, unable to help himself. "The only person in Germany that I want to charm is you." With that, he left the living room while Ed did his best fish impression, considering the battle won.

\----------------------------

The streets of Munich were busy with people, carts, and automobile traffic, but Roy didn't mind at all as he strolled along. The city reminded him greatly of Central, from the way the people dressed and acted to the slightly different dialect they all spoke. The cultural similarities between Germany and Amestris no longer surprised him, but he was still interested to find out how deeply they ran.

He was even more interested in how deeply the similarities ran between his people and their alternate selves. _Was_ Müller the type to sacrifice millions of people in order to achieve his goal?

Roy reached the park on the corner and stopped, admiring the treetops starting to blaze with the first hints of autumn. He was no longer upset with Ed for not attempting to return to Amestris, but he didn't know why the Gate had ever thought that Edward would send him back if he'd revealed himself in Amman. Why did it want Edward to be in Munich so badly?

The Gate, of course, was silent, as it had been since they'd returned. Roy thought annoyed thoughts at it, but it didn't seem to stir at all. Typical.

The park was lovely as Roy strolled through it, but his mind was elsewhere, so much that he didn't hear the sound of footsteps approaching until they were right behind him. He whirled and turned to see Edward standing there, fully dressed and panting slightly from the exertion of running after him. "Mustang!"

To say that he was the last person Roy expected to see was an understatement. "Fullmetal?" he asked incredulously. "I thought you were waiting for Al." To his surprise, instead of answering, Edward sullenly moved forward until they were side by side.

"Let's go for a damn walk," he grumbled.

Roy smiled. "All right."

They ended up sitting on a bench next to a pond at the far end of the park, with no other souls in sight. Edward kept tossing stones absentmindedly into the water, watching the ripples spread outward from each disturbance, and Roy watched him, contented to just have his presence nearby.

"You shouldn't have let me think you were Müller," Edward said finally, turning a particularly flat stone over in his palm and looking down at it as though it was the most interesting thing ever.

"I know." Roy admitted quietly. "I'm sorry."

"No, you don't know." Ed's voice grew heated. "You can't possibly understand how hard it was. At first I thought he was _you_. I trusted him like you. I gave him my loyalty like you. And then..." And then Müller had betrayed him, threatened Al, and ruined everything. He already knew this story. "He wore your face!" Ed continued. "He was _you_, and yet he was missing everything that made you worth anything, you bastard."

Roy kept his face firmly schooled into a neutral expression. "I'm sorry, Fullmetal," he said again.

"And now he knows you're here," Edward said hollowly. "If I'd known back in Amman that you were Mustang and that you hadn't met Müller yet...I would have sent you home, no matter the price. Fuck," he swore, "anything to keep you out of his hands."

"Is he really that bad?" Roy hadn't exactly _liked_ Müller, but the man hadn't seemed like a danger to him.

_"Hello, Mustang," Müller purred as he brought his palms together. "Time to wake up."_

Roy shivered, the memory of his dream from weeks ago still unsettling him.

"Do you know how it feels to be betrayed by someone wearing the face of someone you care about?" Ed spat out. He threw the flat stone into the pond for emphasis. "I've experienced some pretty shit awful things in my life, and trust me, this was up there. So when I found out you pretended to be him…when you said you were him, but you acted like _you_..."

Roy couldn't bear it any longer and he crossed the six inches or so between them to take Edward's gloved flesh hand in his own. "Fullmetal, I had no idea that Müller had done those things to you. I was just trying to protect myself." He wanted to explain about the Gate, he wanted to make Edward _see_, but somehow he knew that it would only sound like petty excuses. There was nothing to do but admit that he was wrong and move on.

Edward curled his fingers around Roy's, his face reddening. "If I had known it was you earlier...I wouldn't have been such a..." He mumbled the rest of his sentence, but Roy smirked anyway.

"What was that, Fullmetal? You wouldn't have been such a brat?"

"Shut up, old man!" Edward scowled fiercely, but didn't let go of his hand. Roy absent-mindedly stroked along the stretch of Edward's pointer finger with his thumb, the barest of touches. Edward seemed to waffle between scowling further and blushing, the mixture of expressions on his face adorable in the bright autumn sun. Roy scooted closer, closing the gap of space between their bodies and pressing them together side-by-side.

Edward stared down at their joined hands. "You bastard."

"What did I do now, Fullmetal?" Roy asked.

Ed reddened noticeably. "I don't want to talk about it."

"If you're talking about the fact that you're obviously smitten with me," Roy purred, "there's no sense in hiding something so glaringly obvious." Ed jerked his hand away from Roy as if burnt and stood up abruptly, marching down to the pond's edge.

"I am not _smitten_ with you!"

"Oh?" Roy asked archly. He told himself to stay calm; after all, Fullmetal was giving all the signs, and it wasn't like him to read anyone wrong, much less someone he'd known as long as Edward Elric. Roy was a people person first and foremost – if Ed was giving him signs of being interested, then most likely, Ed was interested.

"No, you shit! I..." Ed turned around, and Roy saw more than three lost years in his eyes. He was taller, broader, _older_, and Roy couldn't take it anymore. He stood up from the bench and bunched his hands in the collar of Ed's jacket, pulling him in for a kiss.

Instead of squirming like Roy half expected, Edward returned the kiss fiercely, as though he'd been waiting years for this. His automail hand clutched desperately in Roy's new navy suit and his flesh hand came to a gentle rest at the edge of the hairline on Roy's neck. Roy ignored the crook in his neck, the vague discomfort of being outside in broad daylight, ignored everything except for the young man in front of him, blond and fresh and everything he'd been waiting for. He was _kissing Fullmetal_. They stood like that for awhile, making out like teenagers, before Ed finally pulled away shyly.

"I trust you," he told Roy with a fierce determination in his eyes. "I trust you, and never betray that again."

"I won't," Roy promised. "I would never—"

"Also, this is kind of illegal," Ed grinned wickedly at him. "We probably shouldn't be out in public, you pervert."

Roy's brows knitted together. "But Fullmetal, aren't you legal now? Or are you afraid that you don't look it—" He trailed off at the pressure of Edward pinching his thigh and winced.

"Shut up. It has nothing to do with age. Two...men," and Edward swallowed hard, "being together is against the law here in Germany." He frowned. "Don't ask me about these weird laws, I didn't make them. Religion plays a major factor in this world, much more so than in ours, and part of that means that they're obsessed with morals."

Roy smiled at Ed's scoffing. Of course being obsessed with sexual morals would seem odd to Ed; he'd been fighting much harder truths since he was barely old enough to understand the world. Roy felt similarly; when he'd battled homunculi and performed human transmutation, being concerned about sexual morals seemed a little...superfluous. Although perhaps he wouldn't have felt that way if Fullmetal had still been fifteen...

"Well, then, we will be discreet," Roy told him. He didn't try to touch him again, and as they made their way back to Liza's house, they were careful to walk side by side with a good foot of space between them. However, Edward kept glancing sideways and Roy kept glancing back, and there was nothing that could stop the occasional small smile, although Fullmetal would usually replace it with a firm scowl within seconds.

For the first time since Edward had disappeared so many years ago, Roy thought that maybe he felt all right.

\-------------------------

That feeling was not to last, because Müller was waiting for them when they returned. He was wearing a military greatcoat and pacing in the foyer, obviously unhappy about something. The sounds of Liza and Al cooking in the kitchen wafted in, but even their happiness couldn't overcome Ed's displeasure at seeing him.

"What are you doing here?!" he demanded. Müller glanced over at Roy, then back at Edward himself. "Haven't you done enough damage?" Ed continued.

"It occurs to me, now that you're back in Munich, you can complete the job that I originally gave you," Müller purred smoothly. It was unsettling, watching himself in action, and Roy smacked his own head lightly to keep the buzzing away.

"Oh yes, by all means. Al and Mustang and I will go track the Uranium bomb again. See you in the next life, jackass."

"Not that one," Müller said sourly. "Before that." Now Ed made a sour face, obviously trying to pretend he didn't know what the man was talking about. "Your father's research. I want to find a way to open the door between worlds again."

"Haven't you jackasses already realized that that's impossible?" Edward growled. "No, I won't help you at all. And don't bother threatening me with Al this time, either. I've trained him in physical combat and he's older, he won't be a victim of yours any longer. Plus, no one will remember Heiderich anymore."

"I would never have considered trying to get to you through Alphonse," Müller told him smoothly. He smiled charmingly at Roy, who couldn't help but smile back, and Edward scowled at the two of them.

"It would appear Fullmetal doesn't want to help you," Roy told him.

"It would be a shame if Edward felt that way," Müller countered, "Because if we can't continue Hohenheim's research, we will have to take a different approach to the problem." His smile took on a terrifying quality that Roy didn't think he'd ever quite mastered, even when manipulating people.

"What sort of approach?" Edward growled.

"Well, how do we even know that the humans on the other side of the gate are the same species as we are? Perhaps if we understood their biology, it would be easier." He shrugged. "It's not as though I can prove that you and Alphonse definitely came from Amestris, but you have just put into my possession a prime candidate for...biological inspection."

Roy's eyes narrowed, and he got it before Edward did. "Don't you dare use me against him," he said, hands automatically going into his pockets for gloves that didn't exist.

"Oh but imagine how delighted my superiors would be if I brought in a double of _myself_," Müller grinned. "It's a shame there's no easy way to compare just _how_ similar we really are. At least, while both of us are alive."

Ed slammed his automail fist through the foyer wall, shaking the entire house, and his yelling was practically incoherent. Al and Riza came running out from the kitchen, and Roy grabbed Edward's arms to try to restrain him from killing Müller on the spot. "You can't have him! How dare you?!" Ed was yelling, _so angry_. So protective of _him_. Roy had to resist the urge to feel giddy about that – giddiness could come later, after the danger of Fullmetal demolishing a building (again) had passed, and after he was done being furious at Müller for using him.

"If you don't want that future to come to pass," Müller said brightly, completely unfazed by Edward's show of temper, "I suggest that you be at the labs tomorrow morning at 8. Your brother and Mustang can come too, if they wish to help." He smirked slightly. "Don't bother trying to run away again. My people are watching the house."

Roy stared at him. "You're not me at all," he said with a growl.

Müller glanced at him and smiled cheerfully. "Have you not done things you didn't want to do for the sake of your country?" he asked. "Edward told me all about you, Roy Mustang. Don't pretend to be some kind of saint. You've used people before and you've threatened them too. The only difference is, this time the person being used and threatened is someone you personally care about." Roy faltered then, frowning. "Ah yes, it never occurred to you that maybe the people you threatened in the past had loved ones, too? But they were just tools to you, ways to reach a goal." He leaned in close and whispered against the shell of Roy's ear in almost an intimate gesture. "Edward Elric is my instrument, my tool, and I will use him to make this country a better place."

"Shut up!" Edward shouted. "You're nothing like him!" He glanced at Roy for confirmation, but Roy knew he would get none. Müller was completely right. Roy had acted the exact same way in the past, but it didn't mean that he liked it.

"Please be at the lab, Edward. I would hate to have to do anything to make your life unpleasant," Müller told him dangerously. Edward glowered back at him but said nothing. "Good. I'm glad we have that sorted."

To everyone's surprise, the man's countenance completely changed from dangerous to friendly. "Now, I have a date! I'll see you tomorrow," he said cheerfully, and then he was gone in the swirl of a greatcoat.

It felt as though someone had walked over Roy's grave.


	9. Chapter 9

The house was quiet as Roy tried to fall asleep, with only the faintest creaks of settling wood to be heard. Edward had spent the rest of the day sulking about Müller – it was a little charming, how the fifteen year old from so many years ago still shone through sometimes – and the rest of the house had been in low spirits from that. Roy had finally excused himself and gone to bed, and soon afterwards, the rest of the house had quieted.

Being alone in his room had not helped his thoughts settle, however. He bounced precariously between some sort of giddiness and his apprehension at Müller. The man was up to something, the man was _dangerous_ – and Edward had known for years, obviously. Roy was starting to wonder who would come out on top if it came to an all-out war. Müller had the resources and knowledge of that world; Roy had the wisdom of extra years and the Ishbal war. He had no idea who had the advantage, but he had a sinking suspicion that it was not him.

And then there was Edward. Roy was too intelligent not to take his warning about publicly showing their affection for each other to heart, and that evening, he'd noted the uncomfortable looks exchanged by their German companions whenever he was particularly attentive to Edward. He wondered if they had suspected for some time and if they would turn them in. Somehow, he had a feeling they would not. Still, it was another weakness that Müller could easily seize upon, and the last thing he and Edward needed was to get embroiled in a legal mess that could end with their deaths just because they cared about each other. He was starting to dislike this world.

A creak of the hinges of his door made him sit upright in bed, surprised he hadn't heard footsteps approaching – maybe he was losing his touch. A blond head poked in and gold eyes registered that he was awake, and when those eyes met his own, Roy's heart began to beat faster and his mouth went dry. Taking his lack of visible reaction as permission, Edward slipped in the gap between the door and frame and gently shut the door.

"Fullmetal, what are you doing?" Roy asked, wincing when his voice came out a little hoarse. "I thought you said discretion was—"

"Fuck discretion," Edward cut him off. "I was careful. Nobody knows I'm down here. Al will cover for me. I haven't seen you in years and I wanted to spend time with you, is that okay?" He was obviously nervous, scowling and not meeting Roy's eyes, and his defensive babbling only confirmed it.

Roy's expression softened. "Of course that's okay," he said, patting the bed next to him. "Just remember, Fullmetal. We don't wash our own bed linens." He was gratified to see Edward's cheeks turn pink, visible even in the hazy darkness of his room.

"What are you implying I came down here for?!"

"I don't know. What did you come down here for?" Roy was about to slip into full-on charming seduction mode, his defense mechanism against nerves in almost any situation, and he knew he had to stop it before things got out of hand. The situation was too dangerous, and furthermore, Edward's embarrassed reaction had proved that he probably hadn't had too much experience in such matters.

"I just wanted to see you," Ed muttered crossly. After considering for a moment, he sat himself on the bed next to Roy – not too close, of course – and watched him, reminding Roy somewhat of a suspicious cat.

Roy couldn't help himself and smirked, scooting closer. "You look nervous." He reached over and took Edward's hand flesh hand, turning it over in his palm and running his fingers along the back of it. Edward licked his lips and finally met his eyes.

"I've never felt like this before," he said lowly. "I don't know how to act, what to do. It's like my skin doesn't fit right."

"Just go with what feels right," Roy told him, letting go of Edward's hand and slipping an arm around his shoulders instead. Edward's body was warm and compact against his, fitting perfectly into his side. "I'm not going to push you, Fullmetal. Especially not here in a place that's so alien to me."

"I know," Ed replied. He settled in, tucking his head under Roy's chin, and looked as though he was going to start a conversation when Roy yawned unwillingly, almost splitting his face in two. He could feel Edward chuckle against him. "Get some sleep. We'll have plenty of time to talk later."

He didn't have to say it twice. The warmth and the sound of Edward's soft breathing was already lulling Roy to sleep. They would deal with it in the morning.

***********

Roy woke to find Edward already gone. He was pleased to see that Fullmetal was capable of the kind of discretion they had discussed but slightly disappointed as well. Trying to reign in his odd sense of disappointment, he got up and dressed, remembering Müller's assignment from yesterday.

The lab was located in a drab sort of building across town. He and Edward were greeted at the entrance by a stern-faced blonde woman with her hair pinned up tightly against her head. To his surprise, she was not wearing a uniform, as he would have expected for one of Müller's people, but rather a modest blouse with a long skirt and heels, although there was the unmistakable bulk of a pistol in a holster under her jacket. She and Edward regarded either other coldly, and it was obvious that they had met before.

"Olive Ackermann," Edward muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

"Elric," she said, her voice confident and unwavering. "We've been expecting you. For months, actually."

"Too bad," he said rudely, making his way past her in a way that forced her to either stand her ground or step aside. To no one's surprise, she held her place and Ed was forced to squeeze against the wall to get by her. Roy smiled winningly, putting on his most charming face to offset Fullmetal's rudeness.

"I don't believe we've been introduced," he said, extending one hand and smiling at her. "I'm—"

"I know who you are," she interrupted, completely unmoved by his attitude. "I hope you will be cooperative with us for the remainder of this project. I'm here to ensure that Elric doesn't…find himself running off again."

"In other words, you're the noose around our necks."

She smiled tightly. "I wouldn't put it in such a threatening way." Her voice was still firm, but all sugar, and Roy felt a shiver down his spine. It was obvious that this woman would not hesitate to put a bullet through him if she thought it would make Edward work faster – it was oddly reminiscent of a more ruthless Hawkeye.

"We'll cooperate," Roy assured her.

To his surprise, she stepped aside to allow him to pass, her eyes fixed on his face with an intensity he wasn't quite sure if he was comfortable with. It wasn't until she murmured "that's uncanny" that he realized she must be comparing himself to Müller. He smiled slightly at her and passed through the door, following the same way that Edward had taken. He found him in a sitting room off the main hallway, removing his coat.

"Be careful of her," Ed warned the moment Roy entered the room. "Ackermann is Müller's hired muscle. She does all of his dirty work, and she's completely off the books because women can't be employed by the military in this world." The rolling of his eyes that accompanied this statement made Roy smile, because Hawkeye had apparently made quite an impression on the young Elric siblings. Women in the Amestris military were less common but by no means rare, and Roy found it a little strange that this world had such odd prejudices.

The door slammed shut behind them and Roy turned quickly.

"Jumpy, isn't he?" Ackermann commented to Edward, her smile somewhat feral.

"Three guesses as to why," Edward muttered under his breath, and Roy found himself with the familiar feeling of wondering why on earth Fullmetal felt that he had to alienate every dangerous person he met. Olive Ackermann didn't react to his jibe. Roy was surprised she'd reacted to his appearance at all. "So how much of the old man's research have you continued?" Edward voiced this question a lot less quietly, but there was no mistaking the sullen tone.

"Hohenheim left several notebooks behind that the boss had moved elsewhere before you torched your father's library," Ackermann said coldly. "We are currently working from those to reconstruct the methods used to open the gate."

"You torched a _library_?" Roy asked incredulously.

"It was either that or let these assholes get their hands on the old man's notebooks," Edward snapped. "Sometimes we have to do things we don't like." Roy, who had learned that lesson better than anybody, didn't say anything.

They went further into the building, the hallways becoming less institutionalized-looking as they passed beyond the public outer rooms and into the military-only portions. Ackermann led them down a flight of stairs into an underground portion of the lab and ended up in a single small library that had a large vault door with lots of warning signs posted all over it, glaringly red against the sparkling metal. The shelves were filled with books, some looking older than the most ancient alchemy tomes that Roy had in his library back home. Edward immediately headed for the thick wooden table in the middle of the room, flopping into one uncomfortable-looking chair and crossing his arms stubbornly.

Roy took his time to walk along the bookshelves, resisting the urge to run his fingertips along the spines of the books he passed. To his surprise, a good portion of the library had information on alchemy; there were books on techniques and the chemical makeup of matter, and a surprisingly large amount of them had something to do with changing other matter into gold, something which Amestris had forbidden since its founding. The odd fascination on such a forbidden topic (but not human transmutation, he noticed) left a bitter taste in his mouth. Were the humans of this world really so greedy?

"Get to work." Ackermann was butting heads with Edward again, both of them staring fiercely at each other. There was a stack of books on the table next to where Edward had sprawled, and she gave it a pointed look which Edward artfully ignored. "The colonel is not a patient man. He didn't drag you back here just to have you waste our time."

"How will you even know if I'm working?" Edward sneered. "Nobody else in this damn place knows shit about what it is you're doing. I could be leading you in circles or completely backwards and nobody would even notice." To Roy's surprise, instead of responding in the unyielding way he expected, Ackermann seated herself at the table next to Edward and pulled the top book from the stack, flipping it open to the index.

"You need to open the gate," she said, her tone booking no argument. "From our previous research, we've learned that you need human souls to do it. Start correcting me when I'm wrong." From the way Edward's mouth flapped open and closed, it was obvious that he hadn't expected them to know so much about what they were doing – or perhaps, he hadn't expected Müller's hired muscle to know anything at all. "Furthermore, as stated in your father's journals, we will have to pay this toll every single time we wish to cross worlds. The more people we wish to bring over, the higher the toll must be. It is also suggested that crossing over requires some sort of sacrifice."

The gate stirred sluggishly in Roy's mind. It didn't like this way of thinking, and it wanted him to start misleading Müller and his thugs before they got too far. For once, its agenda seemed to line up with his own, so Roy had no problem listening to it.

"The personal sacrificial toll seems to be mandatory," Roy lied to her. "Edward lost an arm and a leg attempting to cross over last time. Ever since I crossed over, I've been having horrible stomach trouble, as though something was taken from me." Edward's eyes flashed in momentary worry, but Olive Ackermann just laughed at him.

"Don't lie to me, Mustang," she told him without even looking up from her book. "Edward lost his limbs from trying to resurrect his mother, not cross over to this world. Furthermore, if you were having organ trouble, surely a doctor would have visited Hauser's house to investigate. Those people are not stupid."

"I hid it from them," he bluffed.

"Then the sacrifice required is manageable," she replied, finally making eye contact with him. "In that case, we continue." She pointed at Edward. "Is there a way to figure out exactly how many human souls are needed to open the gate and allow a certain number of people through?"

Fullmetal hadn't stopped crossing his arms stubbornly across his chest, and his intense glare should have been off-putting. "I'm not helping you."

"Luckily for us, Hohenheim had calculations in his notebooks," she went on, opening a second book and putting on the table in front of them. "Unfortunately, it appears to be in a shorthand form of your language, which we haven't yet decoded."

"You can read the regular form of our language?" Roy asked in surprise.

"It's a dialect of ours," she told him with amusement. "Of course we can. You act as though we're all idiots. My question is this: is there a way to get the same amount of energy from a different source?"

Edward's eyes widened in surprise. "You mean you _aren't_ willing to perform human sacrifice to accomplish your goals?"

"We'll do what we have to," she said coldly. "But a method without loss of life would be better for everyone involved, wouldn't you agree?" She pointed to the second book. Roy walked over and stood next to the table, glancing down at the handwritten notebook filled with hastily scrawled equations, the writing done with firm strokes. "If we can find a way to translate the energy needed into a unit that we use to measure energy in our world, such as the joule or watt, we can possibly find other ways to power the gate."

"Isn't that kind of a jump in logic?" Edward asked, but there was a look in his eyes that Roy knew from knowing him so long; it said that Ackermann was on the right track, and furthermore, that Edward had been wondering the exact same thing. "I don't see why you need me."

"We need a translator," Ackermann said, pointing firmly to the written journal. "Furthermore, although Bromel, Forsberg, and I may understand everything in Hohenheim's journals, none of us understand the basics behind Amestrian alchemy very well, and very little of the information we have available to us provides any help. We need a firsthand user, and you and your brother are our only sources." Then she glanced at Roy. "Or him, I suppose."

"Thanks," he said dryly.

"I'm not letting any of you _near_ my brother," Edward told her darkly. "Why else do you think he's not here?"

Ackermann stood abruptly, apparently done with the conversation, and gestured for Edward to stand as well. He didn't, but she walked across the wooden floor to the heavy metal door anyway, her heels clicking ominously. "Come, Edward," she said. "Don't you want to see the preparations we've made since you left us?" Roy immediately decided that no matter how stubborn Ed was being, he himself wanted to find out what these people were up to. He followed her to the door and Fullmetal followed a moment later, making it very clear from the thundercloud look on his face that he did not want to be there.

The heavy handle swung open with surprising ease under Ackermann's small hands, and the room beyond appeared to be dark. Ackermann flipped a switch next to the door and banks of huge lights flickered on, filling the huge space with soft illumination. Roy's breath caught in his throat as she walked inside and he and Edward followed. Even though he knew that they were underground, the space was _huge_, much bigger than the lab building had looked from outside, and the walls were covered with the same metal material that the door had been made out of. There were odd fixtures all over the walls, as if Müller and his people were prepared to connect any sort of device into the electrical current supplied to the room. As they walked further in, Roy looked down; the concrete floor at his feet had acquired a curved, red stripe that swung off from them to make a circle around the entire interior.

It was a transmutation circle.

"As you can see," Ackermann said, not even bothering to hide the triumph from her voice, "we are well prepared to perform any type of experiment to attempt to open the doorway. With or without you, Elric, we _will_ find a way into your world. When that happens, where would you rather be? In a place of power, where you can control the outcome? Or on the sidelines, shut out forever?"

Roy knew what the answer would be before Edward even spoke; it was impossible for him to hide the hungry look in his eyes.

***********

Later that afternoon, after a long day of pouring through books on both alchemy and the science of this strange alternate world, Ackermann dropped them off at the local base with firm instructions on how to locate Müller's third floor office.

"Tomorrow," she told them, "we'll begin going over more of Hohenheim's notebooks." Edward looked less than pleased.

She also gave them identification badges, and Roy was handed a folder of paperwork to legitimize their business there. Roy wondered what everyone would say, since he looked so much like Müller, but they were allowed through without comment. The man had probably already concocted a cover story for them; after all, he _was_ Roy. A single military escort followed them to the entrance to the hallway where Müller's office was located, then saluted smartly and continued on his way.

As they approached Müller's office, the sound of raised voices could be heard, both familiar. Edward pressed a finger to his own lips to show that they should be silent and listen, but Roy hardly had to be told how to engage in covert espionage. The voices were obviously Franz and Müller, and they were raised enough that all Roy and Edward had to do was seat themselves on the bench outside the office to hear the conversation clearly.

"Absolutely not," the butter-smooth tones of Müller's baritone echoed into the hallway.

"You know how this goes, Müller," Franz said. "The time frame you're talking about is too much of a risk!"

"What risk?" Müller's demand cut through like ice. "The risk to this government? Its reputation? That's what I'm trying to save."

"You're trying to secure your own place in the new order!" Franz told him coldly. "Nothing more. If you're willing to go to these lengths to—"

"The doorway between worlds can be opened!" Müller snapped, his voice echoing through the silence of the hallway. "We're on the edge of deciphering Hohenheim's research; you know that."

"And all of his research suggests that nothing short of human sacrifice will make this happen."

"I'm aware of what his research says."

"Your methods are unacceptable. My superiors will be hearing of this." A moment later, Franz stormed his way out of Müller's office, the look on his face showing barely concealed rage. Roy had sensed since he'd arrived that Franz had an unfortunate temper, but now that it was aimed at his own enemy, he found he didn't mind it nearly as much. He walked by them without even acknowledging them.

Müller came out a moment later and saw them sitting on the bench outside his office. There was something unsettled about his expression, and Roy felt a sort of satisfaction at how Franz could rattle him. The odd buzzing started up again the moment they were in the same space, but Roy was determined to ignore it.

"Here to report?"

"Why else would we be hanging around this shithole?" Edward snapped irritably, lurching up from the bench and making his way inside before Roy could say a word. Roy nodded at Müller and followed, and he was surprised to see that Müller's office was similar to what his own had looked like when he was once a colonel in Amestris. There was a plush couch in the center and a large desk took up the space between two picture windows, facing the door. The only thing missing from the scene was Hawkeye with her gun standing guard over the stacks of paperwork. (Also, Müller's paperwork seemed to be efficiently filed. How different was he?)

Müller seated himself behind the desk and laced his fingers together, watching them with shrewd eyes. "You have been working with Olive. She called me earlier today and felt that you were making progress."

"Miss Ackermann has been very helpful—" Roy started.

"We don't need your hired gorilla to figure this out," Edward cut him off. "There's no need to point a gun to my head every time you want something. I know you're gonna do this either way and there's no way around it, so I'll help you find a way to do it with minimal loss of life."

"Very good." Müller's grin was predatory. "It's a shame you didn't find the Uranium bomb for us. The energy we could have gained from detonating it would have been a great source of power. I shall have to make sure my other agents keep searching. It would be a shame if other factions got their hands on its power."

"I don't really give a shit about other factions," Ed said sullenly. Sometimes Roy envied Fullmetal's excuse of being a teenager; he could be as rude as he liked to people who pissed him off and he got away with it because of youth. If Roy had tried similar behavior, he would have been looked utterly ridiculous and juvenile.

"You should," Müller told him smoothly. "I know you hate me, Edward, but you're lucky that I was the one who found out about your father's research and that I'm the one in charge of this project."

"Somehow I doubt that," Edward muttered.

"We made a full day's progress," Roy spoke over him, trying to at least try to keep the meeting professional. It was probably best not to outright provoke the man who essentially had the power of life or death over them.

"We need to find a way through the doorway as soon as possible," Müller told them sternly. "Olive and my men know enough about the theory behind their work that they'll be able to tell if you're misleading them."

"I never knew Ackermann was such an academic," Edward sneered.

"Olive is very intelligent," Müller said in a manner that Roy would almost have called proud. "She's been studying those journals since we first received Hohenheim's research, and she's determined to open the doorway between worlds even more than I am. I suggest that you don't underestimate her."

"We won't," Roy told him smoothly.

Müller stood, obviously preparing to dismiss them. "I hope we can find a mutually beneficial solution soon, before I am forced to open the gate using...less desirable methods."

Edward's jaw tightened perceptively. "You have me held hostage, it's not like there's anything else I can do. If I don't help you, you'll open the gate using human sacrifice and kill a ton of people in the process. But Müller, if you take one step into Amestris and try to hurt my people—"

"I have no intention of harming anyone on the other side of the gate," Müller told them, ushering them to the door. "I simply wish to seek an alliance."

Roy stared at him, eye to eye, youthful belief in absolutes against the stubborn determination of years. Müller met his challenging stare without flinching, and finally Edward had to tug them apart, dragging Roy down the corridor with a muttered, "let's get the hell out of here."

Müller frowned as he watched them go.

***********

"What I don't understand," Roy mused to Edward the next day as they were pouring over Hohenheim's oddly-encrypted notes, "is why we don't just _know_ this by going through the gate. Shouldn't we know the answers to all of this already?"

"We didn't pay enough of a toll," Edward said cryptically.

"Or any toll at all."

Edward turned to stare at him, his eyes very wide. "You...you didn't have to pay a toll?"

"I was just talking about tolls to throw Ackermann off - unless you count that it gave me my eye back. The Gate's been rustling around in my head since I've been here, though. It gave me the language abilities I needed to survive in this world, it led me to you, and it was what prevented me from telling you who I was before we returned to Munich." It felt good to get it all off his chest, finally, especially since the Gate had been silent since they'd returned.

"Wait...the Gate's in your _head_?!" Roy's mind started racing at Edward's reaction. He'd been under the impression that this was a normal phenomenon, a side effect of performing human transmutation and traveling between worlds that led to absolute knowledge and the ability to perform alchemy only by clapping.

"It isn't in yours?" he asked weakly.

"Fuck no! Nothing's in my head except me! And why didn't it take anything from you?" Edward seemed unusually pissed off about this, although remembering the years spent searching for his brother's body, Roy couldn't really blame him. "It even _restored_ you! I've never heard of it doing that before. It likes to fuck things up, not fix them! You should have had to pay a toll!"

"What if the toll was having this damn Gate in my head for the rest of my life?!" Roy snapped. "Those stupid doors were driving me nuts for awhile! They've finally stopped interfering."

"It's obviously got an agenda separate from ours," Edward told him. "Why would it keep you from telling me who you were when we were down in Transjordan?"

"It wanted you to go to Munich," Roy answered. "That's all I know."

"But why? Why Munich? Why is it in your head in the first place?" Edward punctuated all of his questions by thumping the notebook in front of him with his pointer finger. "And it appears to you as an actual gate? Like, doors?"

"Did you not see a gate?" Roy was puzzled. "I could have sworn you talked about—"

"I did. But there was also a little creepy guy who called himself "The Truth" or "God" or something. He's the one that took my arm and leg. He's the one who seems to be in charge. Can the Gate operate independently of him? Is that even _possible_?" Edward winced. "I've traveled between worlds several times now and I still don't understand anything about the nature of the Gate or the Truth or anything." He was obviously frustrated with this. "Why would it bring you here? Why would it need me in Munich...?"

Edward trailed off, staring down at the notebook page in front of him, the one that he'd been so forcibly tapping moments before. He grabbed a pen and the paper in front of him and started writing, his thoughts obviously going faster than his pen by the complete disarray of the scribbles. Roy watched him, surprised and dying to ask what was going on but, as an alchemist, knowing better than to interrupt Fullmetal when he was in such a state of concentration.

After a moment, the paper was filled with diagrams and Edward grabbed another. And another. He sketched out array after array, rearranging names and writing energy values. Roy couldn't make any sense of it, peering over his shoulder. Finally, after five pages' worth of note-taking, Edward put his pen down and sighed, blinking his eyes at Roy in surprise.

"I've got it," he said, sliding the papers over so that Roy could see them. His voice was unusually grave, but also still held a bit of the manic energy that came from deciphering a particularly hard problem.

"Got what?" The arrays and notes in front of him still made absolutely no sense to Roy.

"I know how to open the gate without using human sacrifice."


End file.
